An Equality Officer recommended rejecting an equal-pay claim by three Irish Times Limited analyst/programmers, finding their work was not like that of two female Commercial Systems Support Executives. Gerardine Coyle’s recommendation was dated 30 June 1997.
John Thewlis, Conor Horgan and Paul Niall, represented by I.P.U., claimed they were entitled to the same remuneration as the comparators under the Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, 1974. The company disputed that the jobs were like work and said differences in duties justified the pay rates.
Coyle found the claimants’ work was not interchangeable with the comparators’ work. She also found the comparators faced greater demands in skill, mental effort, responsibility and working conditions. The recommendation concluded that the three men did not perform like work with either comparator and were not entitled to the same pay. The comparators were Ann Marie Murphy and Mary Sheridan.