Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has had its appeal regarding store workers’ equal pay claims rejected by the Court of Appeal.
The retailer argued that the 700 claims, submitted to the employment tribunal eight years ago, did not include the correct reference number from a certificate issued by the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service (Acas) that showed they had been through early conciliation (EC). Sainsbury’s also stated that both an employment judge and the employment appeal tribunal misinterpreted a rule about claimants having to include the EC certificate number as part of their claim form.
The Court of Appeal found that there was no suggestion that the workers did not have the correct Acas certificate, but that they had not included all of the certificate numbers on their claim forms.
Lord Justice Bean stated in the ruling: “While a claim form must contain the name and address of each claimant and each respondent, it is sufficient for it to contain the number of an EC certificate on which the name of one of the prospective claimants appeared.
“I do not accept that it is part of the legislative purpose to require that the existence of the certificate should be checked before proceedings can be issued, still less to lay down that if the certificate number was incorrectly entered or omitted the claim is doomed from the start.”
Claimants in the equal pay case against Sainsbury’s argued that retail workers, who are mostly female, and warehouse workers, who are mostly male, should receive the same pay rate. Most warehouse workers were paid more than shop floor staff, due to the retailer stating that the roles are different.
Job descriptions and a report about whether the work of store staff was of equal value to that of distribution workers were drafted by independent experts, with any disputes to be resolved at a hearing in March 2024.
A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: “Although this appeal regarding a litigation technicality was not found in our favour, we continue to robustly defend these claims. Men and women doing the same jobs receive the same rate of pay and we’re proud that we’ve invested substantially in our staff over the last few years, including £205 million of support in the last 12 months.”
Sainsbury’s supermarket workers were represented by law firm Leigh Day, with lawyers Linda Wong and Lauren Lougheed leading the campaign.
Wong said: “Women are still being paid less than men more than 60 years after the introduction of equal pay laws. Sainsbury’s had a choice about defending these claims on their merits, or trying to reduce the number of claimants by making highly technical applications.
“Our clients are glad that the Court of Appeal has agreed with us that these claims should continue, and hope Sainsbury’s begin to properly value the work of their female store workers.”