Equal pay claims lodged against Morrisons

The first batch of claims have been lodged with the Employment Tribunal. Leigh Day is seeking compensation for those who work in the stores, who are mainly female,  who believe they are paid less than the predominately male workers in the distribution centres, for equal work.   The law firm has already received around 1,000 enquiries from Morrisons staff.
 
As the supermarket has around 80,000 store staff potentially eligible to claim, then should their actions be unlawful the final bill for back pay could be in excess of a billion pounds.  

Leigh Day is currently representing over 30,000 shop-floor workers in equal pay claims against fellow supermarket giants Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, who all face similar claims of discrepancies in pay between the male dominated distribution centres and the mainly female staffed stores.

Emma Satyamurti, partner in law firm Leigh Day’s employment team, said:

“We believe that Morrisons has made the same mistake as the other big supermarkets – Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco – by underpaying those working in the stores. These are huge companies with big profits and they have no excuse for not facing up to their legal obligations under Equal Pay legislation.  
 
“Our clients are fighting for equal pay with those working in the distribution centres, who they believe are doing work of equal value. The law states that women and men doing work of equal value should be paid the same.
 
“As we marked Equal Pay Day this weekend, on the same date as the last two years, it is clear that businesses must do more to ensure they are taking their responsibilities in relation to equal pay seriously and move swiftly to correct any inequalities that are identified.”