Unequal pay at supermarkets is leading female retail workers to suffer “sleepless nights” and poorer mental health, claimed the law firm leading high-profile pay inequality group claims against major UK supermarkets.
Leigh Day surveyed more than 4,500 female supermarket workers currently involved in its ongoing group claims against Asda, Sainsbury’s Morrisons, Tesco, The Co-op and Next, about the impact pay inequality is having on their health and wellbeing.
The separate legal claims – which started in 2014 with Asda – are on the premise that grocers have been discriminating against female colleagues by paying workers in depots (where roles are overwhelmingly carried out by male colleagues) more highly than those working in retail, where roles are overwhelmingly held by women. This is despite the work being of equal value, the law firm has claimed.
Half of the respondents to the latest survey said pay inequality had negatively affected their mental health, with many claiming it had diminished their confidence, “sense of fairness” and their “overall motivation to work”.
Some 78% of women polled said they didn’t believe their employer valued their work equally to that of male colleagues in distribution centres.
When asked why they had joined the group claim, 85% of women workers cited fairness rather than money as the primary reason. In addition, 31% cited financial need as a reason for joining, with 39% claiming they joined out of a desire to stand up for their legal rights.
“These results lay bare what unequal pay really means for women – missed savings, growing debt, pressure on families, and a damaging impact on mental health,” said Paula Lee, employment partner at Leigh Day.
“At a time when the cost of living continues to bite, thousands of women are doing vital, skilled and customer-facing work but feel undervalued compared with their male colleagues in distribution centres,” Lee said.
The law firm had released the report to mark UK Equal Pay Day on 22 November. It marks the point of the year when the median woman would, in addition to her earnings last year, have earned what the median man had earned in the previous year.
“For more than a decade, supermarket employers have delayed addressing this inequality. Our clients are clear: this is about fairness, respect, and recognition of the work they do every single day. As Equal Pay Day reminds us, progress is painfully slow. These claims show why change is overdue in the retail sector,” Lee added.
Asda £1.2bn equal pay case enters final stage
It comes as Leigh Day and trade union GMB prepare for the final stage of their group claim against Asda, the most advanced of the cases, and the result of which could have massive ethical, legal and financial consequences for the entire supermarket sector.
The union claimed a “historic breakthrough” in the £1.2bn claim in January, after an employment tribunal ruled 12 of the 14 retail roles represented by lead claimants were of comparable value to those carried out by male colleagues in depots, and could therefore proceed to the third and final stage of the case. The other two, shop floor assistants for food and personal shoppers, were struck out.
During the material factor defence stage, the hearing for which is yet to have a confirmed date, Asda will now have to prove there are justifiable reasons behind the pay differences, for example geography or market forces.
All supermarkets involved in class actions “strongly reject” claims they pay staff different rates based on their sex.
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