A female senior manager was refused a pay rise because her husband, who worked for the same company, earned a high wage and therefore their household income was ‘more than enough’.
The employee, Ms Ping was employed to work in the Chinese part of her employer’s business which became extremely successful. She initially worked full time but then went part time in 2016 before becoming unhappy that her workload did not reduce to reflect her reduced hours. Ms Ping then challenged her employer to increase her salary to reflect her contribution to the business. This request was refused as her husband, who earned £270,000 working for the company, earned a large wage and therefore the business owner was satisfied that their combined income was at an appropriate level. She raised a grievance and this was rejected for the same reason.
The Employment Tribunal has found that this decision was inherently discriminatory on the grounds of sex. Absent any explanation for the comments made the Tribunal found that she had been treated less favourably because of being a married woman.
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