£100m equal pay class action against Asda moves forward

AN employment tribunal has cleared the way for thousands of Asda staff to proceed with equal pay claims, which could leave the retail giant facing a huge back-pay bill.

Law firm Leigh Day, which is representing 7,000 women, said the ruling in Manchester meant its class action case could now go ahead. It is estimated that, if ultimately successful, the claims could cost the supermarket £100m.

Staff making the claims, mainly women on hourly rates, are demanding equal pay as those employees working in depots, who are mainly men.

The staff involved allege they were paid less than others in the company despite doing work of equal value.

In June, two judges in the Court of Appeal ruled against the retail chain, which wanted the tribunal case forced in front of the High Court through a stay on proceedings.

A statement from Asda said: “This decision by the employment tribunal does not determine the eventual outcome of the case. It relates to a technical preliminary issue of whether jobs in different parts of the business can be compared. 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.”

The retailer said it continues to “strongly dispute the claims” being made against it.

“We believe that the demands of the jobs are very different and are considering our options for appeal,” the company 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.”