// A UK tribunal rules that female store workers can legally compare their jobs to distribution centre roles
// Female retail staff at Morrisons have been fighting for similar wages to those of mostly male workers in warehouses
Thousands of store workers at UK supermarket chain Morrisons have won the first round of their legal battle for equal pay.
In the decision handed down by Judge Davies at Leeds Employment Tribunal, it was confirmed that more than 2,300 of Morrisons’ retail workers who are mostly women can rely on the supermarket’s distribution centre workers as comparators in their claims for equal pay.
It comes after a Supreme Court ruling against Asda in March when judges said the two jobs could be considered comparable.
READ MORE: Morrisons staff face voluntary job cuts as Midlands store axes deliveries
The ruling is important because the first step in an equal pay claim is often to establish whether jobs are comparable. It is not known if Morrisons will appeal the ruling.
In the next stages of the case, judges must consider the legal questions of whether the two types of roles are of “equal value” and whether there is a reason — other than sex discrimination — for the two jobs not being paid the same.
The supermarket workers are being represented by law firms Leigh Day and Roscoe Reid.
Morrisons argued that the tribunal should find that the retail staff cannot be compared to the distribution centre workers because each Morrisons distribution centre has individual, collectively bargained terms and conditions.
The supermarket said this means the employment terms of distribution centre workers are not common across all sites, so retail workers cannot be compared to them as a group.
They also said individual negotiations of terms means distribution and retail workers are not employed by the same source.
However the judge favoured the workers, who are claiming up to £100 million in missed pay.
The case will proceed to further hearings examining whether store worker and distribution roles are of equal value, and whether there is a reason – other than sex discrimination – for the two jobs not to be paid equally.
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