The notion of Decent Work has been broadly advocated since 1999 by means of various International Labour Organisation (ILO) Conventions. Through these Conventions and as part of its Decent Work Agenda, the ILO strives to foster the creation of social and economic systems, capable of ensuring basic security and employment and adaptable to rapidly changing local and global economic circumstances. The Decent Work Agenda has been widely accepted as an important strategy to eradicate poverty and enable socio-economic development. It is submitted that the concept of Decent Work as contemplated by the ILO, firstly focuses on the payment of an income, which allows the working individual a good life. It secondly strives to ensure that everybody has an equal chance to develop themselves; that working conditions are safe; that there is no instance of child and forced labour; and that discrimination does not occur. The elimination of discrimination in the workplace is not only an ever-evolving pursuit, given that it continues to manifest in innumerable forms, but it has also proven to be an extremely pervasive pursuit as evidenced by the jurisdiction-specific literature review in this study. The jurisdictions focused on in this study are the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Australia. This study concerns itself with pay-related discrimination which strains ILO Conventions No 100 and 111. Convention 100 focuses on equal pay for equal work and Convention No 111 focuses on the elimination of all forms of discrimination in the workplace. In spite of extensive legislative developments in the various jurisdictions which form part of this study, enhanced by the creation of various practical mechanisms to enable the elimination of pay-related discrimination, the stubborn problem of discriminatory pay practices has survived structured and deliberate attempts to get rid of it. In South Africa, the amendment to section 6(4) of the Employment Equity Act, assented on 1 August 2014, specifically describes a difference in conditions of employment between employees of the same employer performing the same or substantially the same work or work of equal value based on any one or more of the grounds listed in section 6(1), as unfair discrimination. This amendment therefore seeks to prohibit such unfair discriminatory practices. Based on the newness of this amendment and the fact that courts have not yet delivered judgments arising from litigation related to this particular amendment, a sense of uncertainty exists with respect to the adequacy of the amended section 6 in the Employment Equity Amendment Act. If progress in the other jurisdictions in this regard is anything to go by, there is no reason to believe that the amendment to section 6 will be a panacea capable of addressing all alleged discriminatory pay practices.

This paper compared the South African concepts of pay equity and equal pay for work of equal value with those of industrialised countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The study considered how South Africa recognized the right to promote equal pay, in the absence of a proper legal framework which expressly includes such a right. The paper also focused on the impact of statutes and case law on the developments of equal pay in the aforementioned industrialized countries. It also considered the impact of the decisions of the European Court of Justice on such developments as well as it impact on the interpretation of equal pay in these industrialised countries. The purpose of such comparison was not to transplant the legal system of these industrialised countries but to assist South Africa in remedying its weaknesses by creating legal rules for the promotion of equal pay for work of equal value.

This paper compared the South African concepts of pay equity and equal pay for work of equal value with those of industrialised countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The study considered how South Africa recognized the right to promote equal pay, in the absence of a proper legal framework which expressly includes such a right. The paper also focused on the impact of statutes and case law on the developments of equal pay in the aforementioned industrialized countries. It also considered the impact of the decisions of the European Court of Justice on such developments as well as it impact on the interpretation of equal pay in these industrialised countries. The purpose of such comparison was not to transplant the legal system of these industrialised countries but to assist South Africa in remedying its weaknesses by creating legal rules for the promotion of equal pay for work of equal value.