Morrisons is the latest supermarket to face an equal pay claim from women who work in their stores and who believe they are paid less than men in distribution centres for equal work.
Employment lawyers from Leigh Day have lodged claims with Acas on behalf of its clients. It has also written to Morrisons’ CEO David Potts requesting pay and gender information for workers.
Leigh Day estimate that the supermarket has around 80,000 store staff eligible to claim, and if there are actions are found to be unlawful, the final bill in back pay could run into billions of pounds.
“We believe that Morrisons, as with the other major supermarkets, has underpaid those working in its stores for a number of years,” said Emma Satyamurti, partner in law firm Leigh Day’s employment team. “Our clients believe that those working on the shop floor should be paid the same as those in the distribution centres, and a failure to commit to this is not only unfair but unlawful. “This legal action is being taken forward 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 those working on the shop floor should be paid the same as their colleagues in distribution.”
Leigh Day is currently representing more than 30,000 shop-floor workers in equal pay claims against fellow supermarket giants Tesco, Sainsbury's and ASDA, who all face similar claims of discrepancies in pay between the male dominated distribution centres and the mainly female staffed stores.
