13ZQReference to Authority

1. Any party to a pay equity claim may refer any 1 or more issues relating to that claim to the Authority for facilitation to assist in resolving the claim.

2. Issues that may be referred to the Authority include, but are not limited to, the following:

3. a dispute about whether a claim meets all requirements set out in section 13E:
4. a dispute as to whether an employee’s work is the same as, or substantially similar to, work that is the subject of a pay equity claim raised by a union with the employee’s employer, for the purposes of determining whether or not the employee is, or is to be, covered by the union-raised claim:
5. a dispute relating to the selection of appropriate comparators for the purposes of the assessment required by section 13ZD:
6. a dispute as to whether proposed remuneration no longer differentiates between male and female employees in the manner set out in section 2AAC(b) for the purposes of settling a pay equity claim:
7. a dispute about whether remuneration agreed by the parties should be increased to the agreed level in phases and, if so, as to the number of phased instalments, their amounts or proportions, and their timing (over a maximum period of 3 years from the date of the pay equity claim settlement).

8. A referral of the issue described in subsection (2)(c) includes the issue of the phases in which any recommended remuneration is to be increased (see section 13ZW(1A)).

9. Despite subsections (1) and (2), a dispute as to whether a pay equity claim has merit may only be referred to the Authority for facilitation if all of the parties to the claim agree to refer it.

10. A reference for facilitation must be made on 1 or both of the grounds specified in section 13ZR(2).