Law firm Leigh Day has lodged 1,000 equal pay claims on behalf of female staff from Tesco over the disparity in pay between store staff and those in predominately male distribution centres.
Since the firm announced in February 2018 that it was pursuing legal action against the supermarket giant, it has hosted meetings across the country and created a specialist unit to deal with the calls it has received from women and men who work in the stores and are paid less than their distribution colleagues. Paula Lee, one of the lawyers handling the Tesco claims at Leigh Day, said: “We’ve had an incredible response to the announcement of this legal action. Many proud members of staff have realised that this claim is not anti-Tesco, but it is to ensure that the work done in stores and distribution centres is recognised as being of equal value; not the same work, but work of equal value and that they should be paid the same as their colleagues in distribution. “Both store staff and distribution staff play an essential role in making billions of pounds for Tesco executives and shareholders, they should both be paid equally for what they contribute to the business.”
Research by the law firm suggests that people working in distribution centres may earn more than £11/hour, while the most common grade of store staff receives around £8/hour. It believes that the underpayment of store workers could apply to 250,000 Tesco employees, with estimated pay shortfalls that could reach £20,000. The final bill for Tesco could be as much as £4 billion.
