ASDA staff could be set for billion pound payout in historic equality case
ASDA Staff could be set for a billion pound payout in a historic equality case, with unions suggesting that the latest tribunal ruling could pave the way for supermarket staff to receiving back pay totalling up to £1.2 billion.
The claim, which could impact tens of thousands of ASDA store workers, has compared roles largely occupied by women and distribution roles mostly performed by men. An employment tribunal ruled that most shop workers in the case have jobs of “equal value to higher-paid positions” in the ASDA warehouses.
The tribunal ruled in favour of 12 out of 14 of the women acting as lead claimants on behalf of store workers, asking for roles to be valued equally with those in the warehouses, over the period of August 2008 and June 2014.
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This means that staff have now won two out of the three stages of the equal pay claim. However, the two roles unsuccessful in the ruling, personal shoppers and shop floor assistants for edible grocery, has seen around 20% of all claims be voided.
Leigh Day, the law firm which represents more than 60,000 workers in this claim, is considering an appeal over these two positions at this time, with partner Lauren Lougheed saying: "This is a significant step for the thousands of ASDA store workers who have established equal value.
"Our clients have fought for over 10 years to achieve recognition of the value of their work and I am so pleased for them. We hope that ASDA will now focus on resolving their cases quickly, rather than prolonging the process.
"Today’s ruling will of course be bitterly disappointing for our clients who work in the job roles that were not found to be of equal value."
A spokesperson for ASDA, which employs over 127,000 shop floor workers across its 1,200 UK stores, said: "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."