Equal pay: "Red-circling" not automatic defence to equal pay claim

That men employed on like work with women are in a special "red-circled" category does not automatically provide a defence to a claim for equal pay on grounds that the variation in pay is genuinely due to a material difference, other than the difference of sex, between the men's case and that of the women. This is the major principle established by the EAT in a joint judgment in respect of two "red-circling" appeals - Snoxell and Davies v Vauxhall Motors Ltd and Charles Early & Marriott (Witney) Ltd v Smith and Ball.