Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Thandi v Next Retail Ltd: ET rejects 'market rate' defence, finds indirect sex discrimination between retail and warehouse roles; first private-sector retail equal pay win; c.£30m back pay

Published on: 29 August 2024

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

Thandi and others v Next Retail Ltd (ET/1302019/2018)

The tribunal held that over 3,500 sales consultants, the majority women, were entitled to assert that Next Retail Ltd acted unlawfully by paying them a lower basic rate than predominantly male warehouse staff. It found that sales consultancy and warehouse operations constituted equal work and should therefore have been paid at the same level. This was the first among various private sector retail equal pay claims to reach the final material factor defence stage and succeed. It concluded that Next’s approach of setting a lower basic rate for sales consultants than for warehouse operatives ‘placed women and the lead claimants at a particular disadvantage when compared with persons of the opposite sex’. The tribunal also found there was no direct sex discrimination. However, the policies contravened the law on indirect sex discrimination because the reduced sales pay rate had a disproportionate effect on women, according to the judgment. Reviewing who received the lower rate, the tribunal observed that ‘there is a substantial statistical imbalance of retail sales staff in favour of women over the relevant period’...

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