Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Case lawLatest NewsEqual payGender pay gap

Tesco faces £4bn equal pay claim

by Rob Moss 7 Feb 2018
by Rob Moss 7 Feb 2018 Shutterstock.com
Shutterstock.com

Supermarket giant Tesco is facing what could be the largest equal pay challenge in UK history after law firm Leigh Day announced legal proceedings against the company.

If successful, the lawyers estimate it could cost Tesco as much as £4bn to compensate workers.

In June 2016 the employment tribunal found that lower paid female workers at Tesco’s rival Asda could compare themselves to higher paid men who work in distribution centres.

Tesco equal pay claim

Asda equal pay claims: What are the implications for similar employers?

Asda equal pay case: EAT allows mass claim to proceed

Conduct an equal pay audit

Lawyers, who say they have already been approached by more than 1,000 employees and ex-employees at Tesco, are making the same argument as the Asda case and another case against Sainsbury’s.

The Tesco equal pay claim focuses on employees working in male-dominated distribution centres being paid considerably more than the largely female-staffed Tesco stores.

Warehouse employees sometimes earn in excess of £11 an hour while the most common wage for store staff is £8 per hour.

This disparity could see a full-time distribution worker earning £5,000 more per year than store staff on the same hours.

According to Leigh Day, the underpayment of workers could apply to in excess of 200,000 Tesco employees, with estimated pay shortfalls that could reach £20,000. The final bill for Tesco could be as high as £4bn.

Paula Lee, from the employment team at Leigh Day, said: “We believe an inherent bias has allowed store workers to be underpaid for many years.

“In terms of equal worth to the company, there really should be no argument that workers in stores, compared to those working in distribution centres, contribute at least equal value to the vast profits made by Tesco which last year had group sales of £49.9bn.”

Lee said the huge sums being paid to the company’s management team were deeply at odds with those in store, who just want to be paid at the same rate as their male counterparts in other similar areas of the business.

“In the week where we have marked the 100-year anniversary since women began to get the vote, the time has come for companies and public organisations to have a long, hard look at themselves, to see the inequality which is still deeply entrenched in their organisations,” she added.

Tesco said that all its staff were paid fairly, whatever their gender or background.

“We are unable to comment on a claim that we have not received,” a spokeswoman said.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

“Tesco has always been a place for people to get on in their career, regardless of their gender, background or education, and we work hard to make sure all our colleagues are paid fairly and equally for the jobs they do.”

None of the UK major supermarkets have reported their gender pay gap information as yet. They have until 4 April to do so.

Tesco
Rob Moss

Rob Moss is a business journalist with more than 25 years' experience. He has been editor of Personnel Today since 2010. He joined the publication in 2006 as online editor of the award-winning website. Rob specialises in labour market economics, gender diversity and family-friendly working. He has hosted hundreds of webinar and podcasts. Before writing about HR and employment he ran news and feature desks on publications serving the global optical and eyewear market, the UK electrical industry, and energy markets in Asia and the Middle East.

previous post
Most employers offer paid bereavement leave, finds XpertHR
next post
Six take-aways from Learning Technologies 2018

4 comments

John Davis 7 Feb 2018 - 11:53 am

How can it be a gender pay gap when the men working in supermarkets, shelf stacking and on checkouts get the same as the women do?

SHill 9 Feb 2018 - 11:45 am

Its not a gender pay gap claim… its an equal pay claim.

sue 9 Feb 2018 - 7:33 pm

They should not get more…..it comes in a terrible state. We have to unpack it….and go on checkouts too….doing 2/3 jobs…..

kim 3 Jul 2018 - 11:34 pm

This is a equal pay claim. Shop-floor employees deserve to be paid as highly as distribution workers because they work as hard, if not harder!

Comments are closed.

You may also like

Eight new equality laws in the pipeline

10 Apr 2025

Barnet Council to face equal pay claim worth...

26 Mar 2025

Have group litigation claims advanced pay equality?

26 Mar 2025

Equality at work: ‘Men are out of touch’

28 Feb 2025

Asda workers advance to final stage in equal...

3 Feb 2025

Morrisons workers move forward in equal pay claim

17 Jan 2025

Birmingham City Council to settle 6,000 equal pay...

10 Dec 2024

Four BBC presenters launch equal pay appeal

29 Nov 2024

Disney agrees $43.3m gender pay settlement

27 Nov 2024

Employment Rights Bill: government outlines next steps for...

10 Oct 2024

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+