Asda workers win major equal pay claim in the Court of Appeal

Asda staff claimed in the Court of Appeal, that they had been discriminated against, by being paid less than their male counterparts.

Linda Wong, solicitor for Leigh Day acting on behalf of the Asda staff said, “Our clients are obviously delighted to have won this major victory against Asda and we now hope that rather than continuing to spend huge sums of money thwarting attempts to pay their staff what they are worth, Asda and the other major supermarkets pay their staff fairly as these workers are also their customers and fair wages benefit all businesses and UK society in general.

“We call on Wal-Mart to lead the change for those hard-working store staff who are their workers and the public face of Asda.”

An Asda spokesperson said, “We are obviously disappointed with the decision, which relates to a preliminary issue of whether jobs in different parts of the business can be compared.

“Asda brought this appeal because it involved complex legal issues which have never been fully tested in the private sector and we will continue to ensure this case is given the legal scrutiny it deserves.

“At Asda, our hourly rates of pay in stores are the same for female and male colleagues and this is equally true in our depots.

“Pay rates in stores differ from pay rates in distribution centres because the demands of the jobs in stores and the jobs in distribution centres are very different; they operate in different market sectors and we pay the market rate in those sectors regardless of gender.”