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Equal pay: SMP must include pay rise effective after reference period

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    Alabaster v Woolwich plc and Secretary of State for Social Security [2004] IRLR 486 ECJ (0 other reports)

Key points

In Alabaster v Woolwich plc, the European Court of Justice holds:

  • Article 119 (now 141) of the EC Treaty of Rome requires that earnings-related maternity pay must reflect any pay rise awarded between the start of the reference period (upon which the level of the earnings-related maternity pay is based) and the end of the employee's maternity leave.
  • This requirement is not limited to cases where the pay rise is backdated to a point during that reference period.
  • How any such pay rise is to be included in the calculation of maternity pay is a matter for the competent national authorities to determine, in compliance with all the provisions of Community law and, in particular, the Pregnant Workers Directive.