Asda equal pay battle continues as Supreme Court rules against supermarket

An equal pay battle for thousands of workers at a UK supermarket has taken the next step with a ruling from the Supreme Court.

The court has today upheld an earlier ruling that shop staff at Asda, which is the second largest supermarket in the UK, can compare their pay with warehouse workers.

This step means that shop staff - who are lower paid, and predominantly women - can take further action against the chain for paying higher amounts to warehouse workers, who are mostly men.

The case was brought to court by 44,000 claimants working at the chain, some of whom are members of the GMB union.

The union commented: “[This is] amazing news and a massive victory for Asda’s predominantly women shop floor workforce.

Susan Harris, the GMB’s legal director, added: “Asda has wasted money on lawyers’ bills chasing a lost cause, losing appeal after appeal, while tens of thousands of retail workers remain out of pocket.

“We now call on Asda to sit down with us to reach agreement on the back pay owed to our members - which could run to hundreds of millions of pounds.”

An Asda spokesman said: “This ruling relates to one stage of a complex case that is likely to take several years to reach a conclusion.

“We are defending these claims because the pay in our stores and distribution centres is the same for colleagues doing the same jobs regardless of their gender.

“Retail and distribution are very different sectors with their own distinct skill sets and pay rates.”