Employment Equal pay - claim made within six months of termination of employment but more than six months after ceasing to do work to which claim related - tribunal having jurisdictionYoung v National Power Plc: CA (Schiemann and Mance LJJ and Smith J): 8 November 2000On 21 April 1997 the employee complained to the industrial tribunal under s.1(2)(c) of the Equal Pay Act 1970, claiming pay equal to that of two male comparators doing work of equal value to her work as a 'value for money analyst'.

The employee had ceased to do that particular job in November 1994 when she had gone on sick leave; following her return in May 1995 she had worked in different departments until her employment ended on 31 October 1996.

The industrial tribunal decided as a preliminary issue that it had no jurisdiction to hear the complaint because she had not been employed in the employment within the six months preceding the date of the reference as required by s.2(4) of the Act, having ceased to work as a value for money analyst in 1994.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal [2000] ICR 78 allowed her appeal, holding that the six-month time limit ran from the termination of her contract of employment, not from the time that she ceased to do the work in respect of which the claim was made.

The employer appealed.

Damian Brown (instructed by Osborne Clarke, Bristol) for the employer.

Dijen Basu (instructed by Wiltshire Law Centre, Bristol) for the employee.Held, dismissing the appeal, that on a true construction of s.2(4) a claimant had to lodge her application within six months of the termination of her employment; that the definition of 'employed' in s.1(6) as 'employed under a contract of service' also applied to s.2(4), so that on a claim under s.1(2)(c) the woman had to prove that she was doing 'work of equal value' to that of her named male comparator and that she and the comparator were in the same employment; that since the words 'work' and 'employed' in the section evidently had different meanings 'employment' related to the contract of employment; and that, accordingly, since on the facts the employee had had one relevant contract of employment throughout terminating on 31 October 1996, the tribunal had jurisdiction.