Landmark Equal Pay Victory for British Retail Workers

Over 3,500 current and former female shop workers at UK retailer Next have won a six-year legal battle for equal pay. A tribunal ruled that the lower pay rates for sales consultants compared to warehouse workers constituted sex discrimination. The estimated back pay totals over £30 million.

More than 3,500 current and former shop workers at British retailer Next have won a landmark six-year legal fight for equal pay, lawyers representing the claimants said on Tuesday.

An Employment Tribunal ruled that Next had failed to prove that paying its sales consultants, who are mainly women, lower pay rates than its warehouse workers was not sex discrimination, said Leigh Day, the law firm representing the workers.

Workers involved in the claim are entitled to back pay for up to six years before the action and for the time since, estimated to total over £30 million ($39.6 million), according to the law firm. Leigh Day described the ruling as a "huge encouragement" for 112,000 staff it was representing in similar cases at other major companies including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, and Co-op, although each case will be decided individually.