Morrisons faces equal pay court claims as law firm prepares cases
THE BRADFORD-BASED supermarket giant Morrisons is facing more claims for equal pay from its staff after a law firm said it was preparing cases on behalf of male and female workers.
Roscoe Reid said it was taking cases to court and to employment tribunals on behalf of current and former store workers who claim they have been paid less than colleagues doing comparable jobs.
The claims will cover pay, bonuses, holidays and sick leave, the law firm said.
Ellie Pinnells, of Roscoe Reid, said: “There is a clear case that female roles have been underpaid for a long time and employees are very likely to win their equal pay cases.”
Her company said last year that up to 25,000 Morrisons workers may have a claim, and that employees who left within the last six years, as well as those
still there, could each be due thousands of pounds if they are successful.
Another law firm, Leigh Day, is seeking compensation for women in Morrisons stores who believe they are paid less than men in the company’s distribution centres for doing equal work.
Asda, whose UK headquarters are in Leeds, recently lost the latest round of a long-running legal battle with its staff over equal pay.
The US-owned retailer had challenged an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that jobs in stores were comparable with those in its distribution centres.
The Court of Appeal dismissed Asda’s appeal and ruled in favour of thousands of retail workers, mostly women, who argue they should be paid the same as those working in the supermarket’s depots. Asda will appeal against the ruling at the Supreme Court.
A Morrisons spokesman said: “We are perplexed that this law firm is talking about ‘thousands’ of claimants as they have written to us recently with a significantly smaller list of claimants.
“We believe we pay our colleagues fairly and equally for the job that they do, irrespective of their gender, and we will be defending this claim.”