Thousands of Next Floor employees win equal pay case; supermarket employees also file suit | Business news
Thousands of Next workers have won a lawsuit for equal pay against their employer.
An employment tribunal ruled that field sales consultants, who are predominantly female, should not be paid less than warehouse employees, who are mostly men.
It is the result of a legal battle lasting more than six years involving 3,540 plaintiffs who work for the shopping giant.
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To defeat the claim, Next would have had to prove that there was a difference in pay due to a “material factor” unrelated to gender discrimination. However, the company failed to do so.
How did Next justify the salary difference?
The company said the pay difference between the positions was because the “market wage” for a sales consultant was different than for a warehouse worker, which had to be taken into account to ensure the profitability of the business, it said.
The court accepted that the differences were due to Next’s attempt to cut costs and increase profits and stated that it did not amount to “direct discrimination”.
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But this argument was not enough.
The court explained that the business need was not so great that the discriminatory effect of a lower basic salary could be offset.
“As a rule, there must be a more compelling business reason to justify such arrangements.”
Next announced that it would appeal the ruling.
A legal first for “undervalued” employees
Leigh Day, the law firm representing the workers, said it was the first successful equal pay claim of its kind against a national retailer.
Customer service is “demanding” and often “undervalued,” said one of the three lead plaintiffs, Helen Scarsbrook, who worked at Next for more than 20 years.
“Anyone who works in retail knows it’s a physically and emotionally tough job,” she said.
“Customer service in particular is very demanding and we do it in addition to many other important tasks that make Next a successful company. You get so used to your work being undervalued that you easily start to doubt it yourself.”
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Next’s response
In its response to the judgment, Next stated: “The Court has rejected the majority of the claims raised by the claimants, in particular all claims for direct discrimination and all aspects of the claims relating to bonus payments.”
“The court was severely critical of the plaintiffs’ expert evidence and overwhelmingly accepted the evidence of Next’s experts and specialists.”
Further claims follow
More legal action is looming as Leigh Day said the firm represents more than 112,000 workers at Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op who have made “similar demands for equal pay”, the firm said.
