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Thousands of Next employees have won a landmark equal pay case against the high street retailer after a six-year legal battle.
An employment tribunal involving 3,540 claimants ruled that Next had failed to prove a lower basic wage. salary The pay disparity of a sales consultant compared to a warehouse operator is not a result of gender discrimination.
The ruling shows that in the period between 2012 and 2023 reviewed by the tribunal, 77.5% of the fashion homewares retailer’s retail consultants were women and 52.75% of its warehouse operators were men.
Under equal pay laws, work of equal value in the same company must be paid equally unless the employer can prove the pay difference was due to a “substantial factor” other than sex discrimination.
During the tribunal, Next argued that the difference in pay between the two roles was due to different “market rates” for sales advisors and warehouse operators and was intended to ensure the “viability” of the business.
The tribunal acknowledged that the pay differences between employees in different positions were not due to “direct discrimination”, including “conscious or unconscious influence of gender” on wage rate decisions, but were intended to “reduce costs and increase profits”.
The court ruled that “business necessity is not sufficient to overcome the discriminatory effect of a lower base salary” and that “there must generally be a more compelling business reason to justify such an arrangement.”
Next said in a statement it intends to appeal the ruling.
This was the first equal pay lawsuit against a national retailer to be successful. Leigh Daya law firm representing thousands of claimants.
Helen Scarsbrook, 68, of eastleigh A Southampton-based sales consultant who has worked for Next for more than 20 years and is one of three lead claimants representing all sales consultants in the claim said customer service was “demanding” and often “undervalued”.
She said in a statement released through Leigh Day: “We have fought for six years for equal pay, which we all felt we deserved, but today we can say we have won.
“Anyone who has worked in retail knows that it is a physically and emotionally tough job.
“Customer service is extremely demanding and we do a lot of other important things besides customer service that make Next a successful business.
“You’re so used to your work being undervalued that it’s easy to start doubting yourself.
“I’m very grateful to the judges for seeing the essence of our work – equality.”
Elizabeth George, partner at law firm Leigh Day and solicitor representing the successful plaintiff, said the ruling was “hugely significant” and the case was “exactly the kind of pay discrimination that equal pay legislation was designed to address”.
She continued: “When female-dominated jobs pay less than male-dominated jobs for the same job, employers cannot pay women less simply because they point to the market and say that’s the going wage at the job. We already know this.
“The employment tribunal has confirmed that the employer must take further action to justify paying a different wage.
“They correctly found that Next could have paid a higher rate but chose not to, and the reasons for this were purely financial.
“It’s worth reminding people that the financial compensation they are now entitled to is not a windfall.
“If Next had met its equal pay obligations, they would have been entitled to those wages all along.”
Next said in a statement: “The tribunal dismissed the majority of the claims raised by the plaintiff, in particular all claims of direct discrimination, and all claims relating to the payment of the bonus.
“The tribunal was highly critical of the claimant’s expert evidence and overwhelmingly accepted the evidence of Next’s experts and fact witnesses.
“To the extent that the specific terms of the claim are successful, we intend to appeal.
“This is the first private sector equal pay class action to be decided at the court level and raises many important points of legal principle.”
More than 112,000 store employees in the supermarket chain Asda, TescoSainsbury’s, Morrison The law firm said Leigh Day would be making a “similar equal pay claim” on behalf of the Co-op.
The tribunal ruled that Next operated 466 stores in the UK and employed 22,873 sales consultants.
According to the ruling, in 2023 the company will make £241m in retail profits and £467m in online profits.
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