Morrisons staff win first round of equal pay legal battle
In equal value claims, the first step is for the claimants to find someone of the opposite sex working for the same company that they can compare their job to
Thousands of store workers at Morrisons have won the first decision in their legal for equal pay after an employment tribunal ruled their roles can be compared to their colleagues in distribution centres.
The case comes after over 2,000 mostly female store worker staff from Morrisons, represented by law firms Leigh Day and Roscoe Reid, claim that their roles are of equal value to that of its distribution staff and should be paid as such.
In equal value claims, the first step is for the claimants to find someone of the opposite sex working for the same company that they can compare their job to.
When making her judgment, employment judge Davies wrote: “It is not necessary for the Claimants at this stage to specify an RDC [Regional Distribution Centre] to be compared with each supermarket store.
“They rely on comparators working at all the RDCs and the question at this stage is therefore whether a worker from any of the RDCs who moved to a depot at any of the stores would be engaged on broadly similar terms. For the reasons outlined, I find that they would.”
The next stage in the equal pay claim will see Leigh Day solicitors, on behalf of the claimants, argue that the roles are of equal value.
If Morrisons shop floor workers are successful at this second stage, the supermarket will have an opportunity to argue that there is a reason, other than sex discrimination, as to why the roles should not be paid equally.
The judgment is the most recent in a series of comparability milestones for equal pay claims against top supermarkets in the UK.
In June, thousands of Tesco shop floor workers, also represented by Leigh Day, won a legal argument in their fight for equal pay when the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the ‘single source’ test applies to businesses in the UK.
This means a worker can compare their role with somebody working in a different establishment if a ‘single source’ has the power to correct the difference in pay.
The CJEU ruling follows a landmark judgment handed down by the Supreme Court in March which confirmed that Asda shop floor workers can compare their roles to those of their colleagues in distribution centres for the purposes of equal pay.
Emma Satyamurti, a partner in the employment team at Leigh Day, said: “Leigh Day is delighted that the Employment Tribunal agrees with what we have been saying for years; shop floor workers should be able to compare their roles to those of distribution centre workers for the purpose of equal pay.
“This year has been a big one for supermarket equal pay claims, with this judgment following hot off the heels of the Asda Supreme Court ruling and the Tesco CJEU judgment.We hope that this will help Morrisons to recognise the hard work their shop floor staff do and finally pay their staff what they are worth.”
A Morrisons spokesperson told the Financial Times: “The decision does not decide if retail and logistics roles are of equal value. Morrisons pays a fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work and will continue to fully defend these proceedings.”
