Thousands of Asda workers ‘on cusp of justice’ after equal pay ruling
Tens of thousands of Asda workers, the majority being women, are “on the cusp of justice” and could receive historic payouts after a landmark ruling in the grocer’s equal pay case.
A court ruling at the Manchester Employment Tribunal has found that many checkout, customer service and shop floor assistant roles at Asda, which are mainly carried out by women, are of “equal value” to the better-paid warehouse roles which are mostly carried out by men.
When measuring 14 shopfloor roles to 17 “comparator” better-paid positions in Asda’s warehouses, the judges ruled that with 12 of the roles, “equal value” was shown with at least some of the warehouse colleagues, and with all of them in one case.
However, the Tribunal ruled that two roles (personal shopper and shop floor assistant – edible grocery) were not of equal value for the August 2008 to June 2014 time period looked at.
It is a decision that has been labelled as “disappointing” by lawyers at Leigh Day who represent more than 60,000 Asda workers in the equal pay claim.
However, the overall decision means tens of thousands of Asda shopfloor workers have now won two out of the three stages of their equal pay claim – confirming that their roles are comparable and of equal value.
The third stage of the case, which represents the largest ever private sector equal pay claim, requires the supermarket to provide a reason, not related to sex, for the difference in pay.
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According to Leigh Day, Asda employs over 127,000 shop floor workers across its 1,200 plus stores in the UK, with the number of current and former workers joining the legal claim increasing weekly. The final compensation value of the claim, if successful, could be as much as £1.2bn.
Leigh Day partner Lauren Lougheed said: “This is a significant step for the thousands of Asda store workers who have established equal value. Our clients have fought for over ten years to achieve recognition of the value of their work and I am so pleased for them.”
GMB Union, which represents the workers alongside Leigh Day, described the employees as “on the cusp of equal pay justice”.
GMB national officer Nadine Houghton added: “This is a historic step towards securing equal pay justice for tens of thousands of Asda workers, but it is tainted with bitter disappointment for those who now face and appeal.
“GMB now calls on Asda to stop wasting time and money dragging this case through the courts and get round the table with us to agree a settlement.”
An Asda spokesperson told ITV: “We strongly reject any claim that Asda’s pay rates are discriminatory.
“Asda will continue to defend these claims at the next stage of the litigation because retail and distribution are two different industry sectors that have their own market rates and distinct pay structures.”
5 Comments. Leave new
Things are not going so well at Asda! Death spiral?
Allan Leighton pulled it off before at Asda. Give him a chance to work his magic again.
Looking forward to my payday. Shafting staff for years now it’s time for comeuppance
What about manned tills and self service checkouts?
Chilled was a department that was classes successful but no mention of night fill on frozen. It’s exactly the same as chilled but with lower temperatures