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Morrisons faces £100m equal pay claim from shop floor workers 6 March 2018
Just weeks after the news that Tesco are facing Britain's largest ever equal pay claim, another supermarket giant – Morrisons - could well take that title.
Asda was the first of the large supermarkets to receive claims from shop workers over equal pay, which now total over 15,000 employees. This was the case to lead the way as the Employment Tribunal ruled that claimants who work in Asda’s retail stores can compare themselves with higher paid men who work in distribution centres.
Sainsbury’s also has over 2,400 claims from employees in their stores who claim they do work of “equal value” with colleagues in the distribution centres.
In a news item from Retail Sector around 170 claimants from Morrisons are being represented and like the other supermarkets, the claims primarily relate to the difference in pay between workers on supermarket shop floors and those in the associated distribution centres. The claimants, many of whom are customer assistants and roughly 70% women, believe they have been underpaid almost £2 per hour dating back up to six years and are therefore owed thousands in back pay. Roscoe Reid who is representing the claimants estimates that there are up to 25,000 Morrisons workers who may have a claim including those who have left within the last six years. These include full time, part time and casual workers across all of the UK’s 498 stores.
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The impact of the Beast from the East on leave and pay 2 March 2018
When the UK is subject to extreme weather conditions, as currently being experienced by so many, there will inevitably be a challenge to the most robust of staff handbooks as they relate to the need for unplanned absence and impact of that absence on pay. Rare though it is for the UK to experience extreme weather such as that being experienced this week, it has been known to happen and ACAS have produced a detailed article for their website that will help employers and employees understand their rights and their obligations for time when working hours are disrupted. Good lines of communication are essential to ensuring that everyone is aware of any policies that exist within an organisation, and where provision has been made within contracts or the staff handbook then it might be useful to circulate a reminder of the details when there is an expectation of disruption to travel plans or a risk of school closure. ACAS guidance us reminds us that:
“There is no automatic legal right for a worker to be paid for working time they have missed because of travel disruption or bad weather.
If employer-provided transport is cancelled because of bad weather or travel disruption, and a worker was otherwise ready, willing and available to work, the worker should be paid for any working time they have missed.”
Workers who were ready, available and willing to work will usually be entitled to their normal pay: if their employer fully or partly closes their business if their employer reduces their hours if other essential staff such as line managers are unable to get into work if staff who provide access to the building are unable to get into work. Different employers will have different business needs during travel disruption and bad weather. Whatever options are decided on, an employer should keep in communication with their workers and be flexible, fair and consistent.”
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Policy News Journal
cipp.org.uk
Page 64 of 516
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