Tesco and Morrisons are facing a critical stage in long-running equal pay claims, with tribunal hearings due to begin this week.

The supermarket’s equal pay cases involve tens of thousands of current and former shop workers who argue they were paid less than staff in distribution centres, despite carrying out work of equal value.

At the hearings, both retailers are expected to set out their Material Factor Defence, explaining why pay differences existed and why they say those differences were not linked to sex discrimination.

The Tesco hearing is scheduled to run from 1 May to 10 June in Reading, with a ruling in the Tesco case is expected later this autumn.

Law firm Leigh Day, which is representing claimants, said the wider Tesco case involves more than 60,000 workers, with the firm acting for over 17,000 of them.

Meanwhile, Morrisons hearing is due to start on 29 April in Leeds and continue into September after a summer pause. Leigh Day said it represents more than 9,000 workers in that case.

“Tesco is expected to rely heavily on so-called ‘market rates’, but this raises serious questions about whether those markets were shaped in ways that undervalue women’s work. Our clients believe there is no fair or lawful justification for the difference in pay.”

Leigh Day employment partner representing Morrisons worker Emma Satyamurti added: “The Material Factor Defence stage is where Morrisons must justify its pay practices in detail.

“It is not enough to point to historic or market-based reasons if those factors ultimately perpetuate inequality.

These hearings are critical for our clients, who have been fighting for years for recognition that their work is of equal value and should be paid equally. The outcome will be hugely important not just for Morrisons workers, but for retail employees across the UK.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: “The jobs in our stores and distribution centres are different. These roles require different skills and demands which lead to variations in pay – but this has absolutely nothing to do with gender.

“We reward our colleagues fairly for the jobs they do and work collaboratively with our colleagues and our unions to ensure that the pay and benefits we offer are fair, competitive and sustainable. We continue to strongly defend these claims.”

The latest legal hearings follows fellow supermarket Asda being brought before the Employment Tribunal in 2024, over similar accusations it paid its predominantly female retail workforce up to £3.74 an hour less than its warehouse workers, who are mainly male.

In 2024, Next was forced to pay £30m after a tribunal rejected its argument that it paid its predominately male warehouse operatives more than its female-heavy sales consultants because the market rate was more competitive.