An email leaked to ITV News has shown that almost 55,000 shopfloor workers involved in a major equal pay battle with Asda may have seen a significant boost to their case.
The message, which was sent to all claimants by their legal team at Leigh Day, suggests an independent expert has compared the jobs of mainly women working on the shop floor to their predominantly male colleagues in distribution centres – scoring them across 11 factors including knowledge and responsibility.
According to the email, the study claims that shopfloor roles obtained a slightly higher average score of 453 points compared to 447 points for those in the distribution centre.
The supermarket will have to answer why the male roles are paid between £1.50 and £3 more an hour if equal value is shown when the case comes to tribunal next year.
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If they lose, they could be looking at £1.2bn in historic payouts, as well as an increased pay bill of up to £400m each year.
The GMB union – which represents many of the women – said they couldn’t comment on a leaked email.
GMB National Officer Nadine Houghton said: “The entire retail sector has been built on the structural discrimination of women. Women’s labour has been significantly undervalued and it’s about time that society wakes up.”
Asda claimed the report was part of a complex case and was confidential. Sources suggested that average scores across 11 different skills were not how the jobs would be compared.
“It is not a ruling by the Employment Tribunal and is not a decision on the question of equal value. At Asda male and female colleagues doing the same jobs in stores are paid the same and this is equally true in our distribution centres,” a spokesperson said.
“We continue to defend these claims because retail and distribution are very different sectors, with their own distinct skill sets and rates of pay.”
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