Low-paid civil servants - many Catholic and female - may receive £100m in back-pay under plans by Peter Robinson.The finance minister said he was prepared to deal with historic inequality in pay, affecting 9,000.
He has told officials to look at the scope of the problem and engage with trade unions to resolve the issue.
He said there may be serious financial implications "but I am not prepared to follow the actions of people who preceded me and leave it unresolved".
"There should be equal pay for equal work of equal value."
The move will affect about 9,000 civil servants in the lowest grades, mostly in secretarial and administrative posts.
More than 60% of civil servants employed at the AA and AO grades are from a Catholic background.
Workers who have retired from the Civil Service in the past six years could be entitled to the back-pay, which could be up to £20,000.
The finance minister said the executive could either approach the Treasury or find the money from last year's underspend in Northern Ireland.
"Direct rule ministers did not want to touch this issue because of the enormous amount of calculations and difficulties," he said.
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