Class action equal pay claims appear to be back on the litigation landscape following reports of two multiple-claimant cases being presented to employment tribunals.

An article in The Guardian [11 April 2014] reports that test cases are being brought by 414 workers against Asda “in a major test of equal job evaluation in the private sector”. The Asda cases will determine if the supermarket's store staff jobs, which are mainly held by female workers, are of equal value to higher-paid jobs in the company's male-dominated distribution centres. The claim is expected to be heard within the next two months at Manchester employment tribunal. The Claimants are being represented by the employment lawyers who two years ago won a landmark £1bn supreme court ruling for lower-paid women employed by Birmingham City Council.

The BBC reports [23 April 2014] that male caretakers and maintenance staff, who were unhappy at being paid less than their female colleagues, have prevailed in an equal pay claim against the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD). In light of the evidence, the UWTSD conceded that the claim was well founded. All the men were originally employed by Swansea Metropolitan University, which merged with the UWTSD in 2013 and who inherited the contractual terms. The men had been on minimum 45-hour-a-week contracts, until new regulations sought to standardise workers' contracts to a 37-hour working week instead. Fearing the drop in hours would cause problems, the Claimants were told the extra eight hours would be guaranteed, but classed as overtime pay. But when the new system was implemented, the men said they realised their hourly rate was less than women who were on the same pay scale. The report indicates that the total settlement may be around £750,000.

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