Next staff secure ‘significant’ win in equal pay battle

More than 2,000 Next store staff who are taking legal action against the group for equal pay have won the second stage in their legal battle, which has ruled that their jobs are equal to warehouse jobs within the group. The store staff, who are all current or former sales consultants for Next, argued that their work was of equal value to the work warehouse operatives and therefore they should be paid at the same rate. Next disputed that their work was equal, however. The Employment Tribunal in Leeds ruled unanimously this week that the three women who acted as lead claimants for all the sales consultants in the action did work that was of equal value to the jobs of those n in the warehouse. Next employs more than 15,000 sales consultants across its 400 plus stores in the UK, and the number of current and former sales consultants joining the legal claim has reportedly increased week on week according to solicitor Leigh Day, who is representing the claimants. It said this victory “marks a significant milestone” in the legal case, which began in May 2018, and also means that the women have now won the right to take their fight for equal pay on to its final legal stage. Next conceded the comparability stage of the case in 2021. The latest development means that Next will now have to provide evidence to the Employment Tribunal to justify that although the jobs are equal, the store staff are not entitled to have their pay and terms automatically brought into line with warehouse pay and terms. That hearing is likely to take place in March 2024. If the store staff win that hearing too, the tribunal will then move on to deal with their compensation. The store staff would be entitled to receive the difference in their pay and the warehouse operatives’ pay going back for up to six years from when they started their claims and until the case ends. Their contracts are also automatically modified to include equal terms going forward. Leigh Day is also representing over 85,000 supermarket shop floor workers in similar equal pay claims against Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Co-op. Those cases are all going through the three stages but have not yet completed the first two. The Next store staff are represented by Leigh Day barrister and partner, Elizabeth George and Andrew Short KC of Outer Temple. George said: “We are delighted that our Next clients have won this crucial battle. It is a legal win, obviously, but it means a great deal more than that to the people bringing these claims. “The sales consultants, overwhelmingly women, had been told by Next that their work is not as demanding as the warehouse operative’s work and so does not attract equal pay and other benefits currently denied to them. The Employment Tribunal has found, unanimously, that the work is equal. The end is now in sight for the sales consultants after a battle lasting five years.”