From 1 October employers that lose an equal pay or sex discrimination dispute can be subjected to a mandatory full audit of their whole payroll, with any other pay discrepancies made public to both staff and competitors.
Holmes, who is a consultant at HR compliance experts ELAS, told HR magazine this presents multiple risks for employers. These include wider discrimination cases being brought and groups of employees banding together to bring a single action.
"If it's found that one group of employees has been underpaid for a significant period of time it puts companies at a huge financial risk," he said. "And if your whole pay data is exposed any discrepancies can be uncovered.
"Cases can be brought on the grounds of age or race. So, it can go beyond the initial gender pay gap."
The risks can also be external, according to Holmes.
"If your competitors get a look at your pay data they could conceivably use it to approach your staff and offer them a higher salary to poach them," he added.
Holmes added that he best way to avoid issues is to have "clear pay structures". If these are not in place employers can end up "inadvertently" breaking equal pay rules, he added.
