Tom HeysLegal Analyst

Gender and Ethnicity Pay Gap Reporting

I lead Lewis Silkin’s gender and ethnicity pay gap reporting services in the UK and Ireland.

I have deep knowledge and experience of all aspects of gender pay issues. I have advised dozens of employers for many years and across a wide range of industries including advertising, retail, hospitality, technology, professional services and law firms. Although not yet a legal requirement, I have also advised many employers on their ethnicity pay gaps.

I have deep knowledge of gender pay gap reporting regulations. I advise clients on who is within scope and what elements of pay to include, including more complex elements such as flexible benefits, share schemes and stock options.

As well as ensuring legal compliance, I analyse clients’ data to get to the root cause of any pay gaps. By carrying out more specific interrogations of data, hypothesis testing, and tests against a range of additional statistics, I can find where gaps are coming from. I can help clients identify specific targeted measures that will have a meaningful impact on workplace diversity and reduce their gender pay gaps. I have a Masters degree in Statistics.

Clients also regularly ask me to draft and advise on their gender pay gap reports to help tell the “story” shown by their data.

Pay Transparency Directive

I co lead Lewis Silkin’s Pay Transparency Directive services with David Lorimer.

I support clients with preparing their organisations for the impact of the Pay Transparency Directive across the EU and am involved in multiple projects across the EU. From advising on the scope of their projects and considering the impact of any existing pay reporting regimes, to how to approach the complex issue of “categorisation”. I analyse clients’ data to identify areas of potential risk ahead of the new requirements, where they might be able to rely on any potential justification defences to explain differences in pay, and where the real issues lie. I regularly work with our colleagues within Ius Laboris on these projects.

I also write regularly on all aspects of the Pay Transparency Directive. I host our podcast series, “Pay Attention”, in which we discuss all aspects of the Pay Transparency Directive and the impacts for employers.