Louise Donovan
Last week, thousands of retail staff won a six-year legal battle over unequal pay in the United Kingdom.
An employment tribunal ruled that fashion retailer Next should not be paying their in-store sales staff, who are predominantly female, less than their mostly male warehouse workers. In a landmark case, it was argued that the work done by women in retail was of “equal value” to the work done by their male colleagues — despite doing different jobs.
Not only is this the first successful equal pay claim of its kind against a U.K. retailer, according to Leigh Day, the law firm representing the workers, but the ruling could also help set a precedent in ongoing cases.
More than 112,000 store staff are bringing similar equal pay claims against five of the U.K.’s largest supermarkets — Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op — through the same law firm.
“It’s certainly expected that the legal arguments would be very similar,” said Lara Kennedy, a partner at Leigh Day, referring to the supermarket cases. “Their whole make-up is extremely similar. And therefore we think we’ll get a very similar result.”
Across Europe, the U.S. and Africa, retail work has traditionally been female-dominated with warehouse work largely done by men. In the U.K., the added stereotypical assumption that warehouse jobs are more demanding has resulted in unequal wages, Leigh Day says. At Next, some women earned up to £3 (roughly $4) less an hour than their male colleagues — though they will now receive back-compensation thanks to the ruling.
At Asda, meanwhile, in-store retail workers, who are mostly women, can earn up to £3.74 (roughly $5) less per hour than the largely male distribution workers. As they and others await news of their legal claims, lawyers expect the Next ruling to be “closely scrutinized” by all retail heavyweights.
Paula Lee, who represents Tesco claimants, says it was “hugely significant” for future cases because it was the first class action claim based on the “equal value” approach in the private sector.
Under U.K. law, men and women must get equal pay for doing “equal work.” If two jobs in the same company are different but equally demanding, they should be paid the same — as the Next workers demonstrated.
Kennedy noted the verdict’s potential to impact other sectors.
“I think all the retailers and really, any employer that has got a gender segregated workforce, will be reading the judgment with severe caution…” she said. “It’s certainly got far wider repercussions than Next.”
Although Next says it plans to appeal, its shop floor staff will now receive a basic hourly pay equal to their male colleagues. Women will also be given paid rest breaks as well as equal pay for Sunday, night time and overtime shifts, in line with warehouse contracts.
“We did it!” said 68-year-old Helen Scarsbrook, one of three lead claimants who has worked for the retailer for more than 20 years.
“You become so used to having your work undervalued that you can easily start to doubt it yourself. I am so grateful to the judges for seeing our jobs for what they really are — equal.”
