Is it lawful for an employer to pay an employee on a fixed-term contract more than an employee on a permanent contract of employment?

In the first instance, the relevant statutory provisions which apply in these circumstances are, of course, the Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations, SI 2002/2034 (FTE Regulations 2002).

One needs, however, to consider that there are two different types of discrimination provisions: those that protect all employees (ie universal provisions) and those that protect only a specified, defined group.

An example of the former is section 11 of the Equality Act 2010 (EqA 2010), which defines the protection afforded to the protected characteristic of sex. All employees of both sexes enjoy the protection. Hence, both male and female employees can pursue claims of sex discrimination if the factual matrix warrants such a claim. The same applies to the protected characteristics of, for example, race and age. All employees of every age and race