Today the Supreme Court ruled that the roles of Asda shop workers could be compared to those of depot workers, but what does the Asda Supreme Court victory mean for your claim? Here, Lauren Lougheed, a partner in the employment team, explains the next steps.
It feels so long ago that the Supreme Court heard Asda’s appeal against the judgment that the roles of shop workers could be compared to those of depot workers, but finally we’ve got the result we’ve been hoping for.
As the Supreme Court is the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases, this was Asda’s last chance to argue the roles are not comparable.
But, while this was a huge leap forward for the Equal Pay Now Campaign, there’s still work to be done. Here we look at what is next for store workers after the Asda Supreme Court victory.
What happens next?
Leigh Day solicitors, on behalf of the claimants, will go on to argue that the roles are of equal value.
This part of the claim is already underway.
In order to decide whether the work done by the store workers is of equal value to the work done by depot workers, the judge will assess a report provided by independent experts.
The experts draw up factors to compare the two jobs by and assess how hard each job is using these factors. The judge will decide if they agree with the findings to determine whether the roles are of equal value.
If the roles are of equal value, the next stage would be for Asda to show that there is a genuine reason, unrelated to sex, why men and women are paid differently.
Asda would have to demonstrate that factors such as geographical location, different working hours, length of service, or different skills, qualifications and experience, are the reason for the disparity in pay. This is known as ‘material factor defence’.
If the Tribunal decides there is no material factor defence, and the judgment is not appealed, the claims will have been successful, and compensation will be decided.
When will compensation be awarded?
Because there are a number of stages to work through, and decisions can be appealed, it’s difficult to say when compensation will be awarded.
However, if the claim is successful, you are entitled to compensation from up to six years before the date we start you claim until it is resolved, which could be worth thousands.
The Supreme Court’s judgment is reason to celebrate and supports our belief that the claim is a strong and winnable one.
We are currently acting for more than 44,000 Asda workers and we will continue to do so until shop workers are paid fairly.
If you would like to find out more information about the Asda Equal Pay claim and how you can join, please visit our Asda Equal Pay page here.
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