Female workers claim £100m in equal pay fight with Asda
Thousands of female employees of Walmart-owned supermarket, Asda, have been given permission by an employment tribunal to lodge the largest-ever, private sector equal pay claim in the UK. The women, who work in a variety of roles on the shopfloor, will be able to compare their pay to that of the company's largely male warehouse staff. Lawyers from legal firm Leigh Day argue the women earned on average £1-£3 less per hour than staff at distribution centres. If successful, the claim could cost the company up to £100m in back payments dating to 2002.  

Thousands of women who work in Asda stores have won the right to lodge the UK’s largest private sector equal pay claim.

An employment tribunal ruled that the women, who work in roles across the shopfloor, can compare their jobs with those done for a higher wage in Asda’s warehouses, predominantly by men.



If the women win, the retailer could be forced to adjust the pay of many of its 130,000 shopfloor staff, and make back payments to those involved in the case going back to 2002, at an estimated cost of up to £100m.



Lawyers representing the shopfloor workers said the women typically earned between £1 and £3 an hour less than staff at Asda’s distribution centres.



The shopfloor workers say they are doing jobs of equal value, but are paid less because their work was historically perceived as “women’s work” and therefore thought to be worth less than men’s work. They claim that this historical discrimination has never been corrected by the firm.

The Walmart-owned retailer argued the roles could not be compared because they were carried out in different locations. However, the judgment, which followed a Manchester employment tribunal hearing in June, deemed that this was not the case, paving the way for an equal pay case in which judges will examine the value of the jobs being done.

About 9,500 past and current Asda workers from across the UK have signed up with the law firm Leigh Day, which will represent them in the pay claim next year. Lauren Lougheed, a lawyer at Leigh Day, said: “This is a dramatic victory for the workers we represent. Asda tried to argue that because the shops and distribution centres were in different locations, with different pay arrangements, that Asda could pay the men what they like.

“However, the employment tribunal found that Asda, the employer of both men and women, could have made sure that there was equal pay between men and women if they wanted to, but chose not to.”



In a statement, Asda disputed the claims being made against it. “We believe the demands of the jobs are very different and are considering our options for appeal,” the supermarket said. “At Asda, hourly paid colleagues doing the same job in the same location are paid the same. Men and women doing the same job in our retail stores are paid the same. Men and women doing the same job in our distribution centres are paid the same. Pay rates in stores differ from pay rates in distribution centres for legitimate reasons, including the different market rates for different jobs in different sectors.”

Asda stressed that the decision by the tribunal was on a preliminary issue. “The tribunal has yet to consider whether the jobs are of equal value in terms of their demands and, if some jobs are, only then will the tribunal move on to consider the reasons for the differentials, including the existence of different market rates in different industry sectors,” it said.

At the hearing in June, Asda argued that its distribution and retail sectors were “fundamentally different” and that they operated in different environments and required different skillsets. The judge heard witness statements from five workers with different roles on the shopfloor, including a personal shopper from the Brighton Marina store and a former checkout operator in Wirral.

Lougheed said the judgment would have implications for other supermarket equal pay claims, including those Leigh Day is bringing on behalf of about 400 Sainsbury’s workers.

Chris Cook, the head of the employment department at legal firm SA Law, said the decision was a major milestone but only the first step in a long process. “This isn’t an isolated case by any means,” he said. “We’ll no doubt see major retailers up and down the country facing similar claims around the disparity between the wages of their distribution staff and employees working away on the shopfloor. Even more crucially, employees in any number of sectors will be taking a closer look at their pay packets and how they compare to their colleagues across a business.”