Clay Cross (Quarry Services) Ltd v Fletcher [1978] 1 WLR 1429 is a UK labour law case concerning sex discrimination, unequal pay, and the limits of justifications for it.
The EAT reversed this, holding that the man’s previous salary was a genuine material factor.
Lord Denning MR held that the factor relied on in section 1(3)(a) had to be ‘personal’ to the worker concerned.
Take heed to the words “between her case and his.” They show that the tribunal is to have regard to her and to him — to the personal equation of the woman as compared to that of the man — irrespective of any extrinsic forces which led to the variation in pay.
As I said in Shields v E Coomes (Holdings) Ltd , ante, p. 1418E, section 1 (3) applies when “the personal equation of the man is such that he deserves to be paid at a higher rate than the woman.” Thus the personal equation of the man may warrant a wage differential if he has much longer length of service, or has superior skill or qualifications; or gives bigger output or productivity; or has been placed, owing to downgrading, in a protected pay category, vividly described as “red-circled”; or to other circumstances personal to him in doing his job.