Court of Appeal upholds that Asda store and distribution staff are comparable

The Court of Appeal has today (Thursday 31 January 2019) upheld that store-based employees, who are majority female, at retailer Asda have comparable job roles to their predominantly male counterparts working at the supermarket’s distribution centres.

This judgment is the latest result in the ongoing equal pay case against Asda, led by law firm Leigh Day on behalf of affected shop staff. The claimants argued that lower-paid, female store-based employees held comparable roles to primarily male staff working at Asda’s distribution centres, meaning that they should be paid equally for the work they perform.

Judges at the Court of Appeal ruled that in the vast majority of cases, the law allows an employee to compare themselves with any employee of the same employer.

The judgment follows a three-day hearing at the Court of Appeal, which was held in October 2018.