Changes to employment legislation will go before Tynwald soon, which will deal with gender pay gap reporting.

Minister for Enterprise Tim Johnston says there are a number of potential issues that need to be addressed in relation to gender pay reporting in an ‘Isle of Man context’.

He said: ‘In the UK, the requirement for employers to publish information on pay by gender applies only to organisations with over 250 employees.

‘In the Isle of Man, there are relatively few organisations with over 250 employees. Therefore, suitable rules surrounding reporting will need to be considered following consultation with relevant stakeholders.’

This was in response to a written question from Rushen MHK Juan Watterson, who asked when the minister plans to introduce gender pay gap reporting under section 70 of the Equality Act 2017.

This section means the Department for Enterprise may make regulations to require employers to publish information relating to the pay of employees for the purpose of showing whether there are differences in the pay of male and female employees.

The purpose of this is to encourage employers to be aware of, and where appropriate, take action to reduce gender pay gaps in their organisation.

Mr Johnston said: ‘The Department is undertaking a comprehensive review of employment legislation and has two Employment Amendment Bills scheduled in the legislative timetable as published in the Island Plan.

‘Consultation was undertaken in 2022 on certain priority proposals relating to family rights (including shared parental leave etc), whistleblowing and zero hours contracts and the current priority is to bring forward legislation pertaining to these matters, with the intention for this to enter the Legislative Branches prior to the summer recess.’

As well as this, a number of other matters will be addressed as part of the second Amendment Bill and the introduction of gender pay gap reporting, potentially together with other enabling provisions within the Equality Act for which the Department for Enterprise has responsibility, will be considered alongside these measures.

In the House of Keys last week, Mr Johnston was asked about zero hour contracts.

He explained that an individual on a zero hour contract undertakes to work with no minimum or maximum number of hours guaranteed.

The minister explained there are no powers to investigate or enforce the law, particularly for zero hours contracts. A report on zero-hour contracts in 2019 concluded that it’s unlikely to be appropriate if an individual works similar work hours over a significant period of time.

And a consultation last year led to the department preparing a number of measures that will deal with problems arising from these contracts.

This includes dealing with contracts, itemised pay statements, regulated contracts and introducing a right to request a stable contract.

This will enter the Tynwald branches before summer recess, with the draft Bill currently being prepared.