4 Forms of discrimination It is a known fact that labour market disadvantage takes various forms. Equally, discrimination in the labour market itself can show itself in different guises. The most obvious form of discrimination involves women being paid less than men for doing the same or a similar job. This is what labour economists call wage discrimination (under wage discrimination an individual is paid less than another individual working at the same job), which has been addressed and formally eliminated in many countries through the introduction of equal pay legislation. Wright and Ermisch (1991) for example, report that ‘the Equal Pay Act (1970), Sex Discrimination Act (1975), and Employment Protection Act (1975), contributed significantly to reducing discrimination in the British labour market’ (p. 508). However, the ability of such legislation to improve the relative position of those workers facing discrimination is the subject of much debate. The following case study of performance-related pay shows how discrimination can be difficult to legislate for. {text:bookmark-start} {text:bookmark-end} Merit pay scheme ‘was discriminatory’ London Underground is changing the way its performance-related pay system is implemented after conceding a £60,000 racial discrimination case last month. Consultants, Psychometric Research Development, will meet with London Underground in future to discuss any performance-related pay scheme as part of a settlement reached with 20 black station managers. The managers claimed that the scheme, in place for the three years between 1989 and 1992, indirectly discriminated against them. Fatima Patwa, a solicitor for Brent Community Law Centre, which supported three of the 20 managers, told Personnel Management that the performance assessments left too much to the discretion of the senior staff carrying out the appraisals. She said research found black managers were being awarded lower performance pay than their white...