Thousands of Morrisons workers have won a key legal battle in their fight for equal pay after a Tribunal ruled shop floor and warehouse positions should be considered as similar.
A group of mainly female Morrisons’ retail staff have claimed they have been ‘unfairly underpaid’ by their employer in comparison to mostly male warehouse workers. In a crucial victory for the workers, Judge Davies at the Leeds Employment Tribunal ruled that Morrisons’ shop floor workers can rely on the company’s warehouse staff as comparators in their equal pay claims. The ruling adds to a body of case law supporting accusations of pay discrimination against other supermarkets, with shop floor workers typically earning £1 to £2 less than warehouse workers.
Mostly female Morrisons’ retail staff have been fighting for similar wages to mostly male workers in distribution centres, claiming they have been ‘unfairly underpaid’. This comes after a Supreme Court decision against Asda in March 2021, when Judges confirmed that the two jobs could be compared. Morrisons argued that retail staff cannot be compared to warehouse workers because each of its distribution centres has individual, collectively bargained terms and conditions.
However, Judge Davies ruled in favour of the shop floor workers in what amounts to a key victory amid their equal pay fight, which sees them claiming up to £100 million in missed pay. Further hearings in the case will look at whether store worker and distribution roles are of equal value, and whether there is a reason, other than sex discrimination, for the two roles not to be paid equally.
Ms Ellie Pinnells, a partner and group litigation specialist at Roscoe Reid, representing the staff, said: ‘We are hugely encouraged by this decision which, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Asda case, gives hope to thousands of mostly female workers who have been unfairly underpaid by their employer.
‘As employment Judge Davies noted, “Responsibility for any inequality, and for putting it right, remains with the board”.
‘I would urge the board of Morrisons, and any party interested in a takeover of Morrisons, to put right a wrong that has persisted since the Equal Pay Act 1974.’
More than 40,000 equal pay claims have been made by supermarket employees, with payouts reportedly reaching millions due to unfair treatment of staff. In March 2021, Asda store workers won a Supreme Court case after bringing equal pay claims over complaints that warehouse staff were unfairly paid more.