Discussing Wages - threat of disciplinary

[MistressWeatherwax1]

Our company employees have just had the yearly letter out confirming a wage increase due to minimum wage rising.

It includes a warning that this information about our individual hourly rate is highly confidential and cannot be discussed with any colleagues under threat of disciplinary action.

Is this legal for my employer to threaten this?

This is a breach of the Equality Act 2010(Part 5, Chapter 3)It also is a pretty clear indication that there are possible equal pay issues at play here - otherwise, why so worried about people finding out what their colleagues are paid?

It is a legally unenforceable clause so it doesn’t matter that they’ve put it, they can’t stop you.

Thanks, I thought it would be.

Just to be clear, they cannot legally take disciplinary action against you for disclosing your hourly rate if the purpose is to see if there is an equal pay issue. They can take action if you disclose your hourly rate for some other reason.