LONDON: British supermarket chain Asda, which is owned by Walmart, has lost a challenge at the Court of Appeal in the latest round of a long-running dispute with staff over equal pay for different roles.
Law firm Leigh Day, which is representing 30,328 Asda workers, said on Thursday the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling that Asda store staff can compare their roles with those in distribution centres.
The store staff argue they should have parity with better paid workers in the distribution centres. Leigh Day said the ruling means the claim against Asda can now progress to the next stage — assessing whether store and distribution centre roles are of equal value.
The firm said in total it is representing over 35,000 shop floor staff at Britain’s big four supermarkets — market leader Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons — in equal pay cases which will be impacted by Thursday’s judgment.
Leigh Day said its total estimate of the claims against the big four, if they lose their cases, and are ordered to pay all eligible staff could be over £8 billion ($10.5 billion). — Reuters
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