'Inherently discriminatory' | Woman denied pay rise because husband earned 'more than enough'

A female manager’s pay rise request was rejected because bosses felt her husband’s salary was “more than enough”, a tribunal has heard.

Jiang Ping was told by a director that her husband’s high earnings were enough to offset her own salary, after asking bosses at James Durrans & Sons for a raise.

Ping's husband, David Armitage, was a director at the company and earning up to £270,000. Ping herself had been a full-time senior manager, but in 2016 she dropped to part-time hours. According to the tribunal, she felt that her reduced hours were not fully aligned with a lighter workload. She therefore felt she should be earning more than the £36,000 she was receiving at the time of her complaint.

She later raised a grievance regarding the issue, but this was also rejected by another director.