It has not been a good few days for retailers.

Firstly, an Employment Tribunal gives the green light to thousands of women who work at Asda stores to proceed with equal pay claims.

Now, workers at Tesco are claiming that they have been discriminated against on the basis of age and sex after their pay rates for working weekends and bank holidays were slashed.

Agreement with Workers

Earlier this year, Tesco announced that they had consulted and agreed with the shop workers’ trade union, Usdaw, and staff representatives to introduce certain pay changes. They agreed to increase the hourly wage to lowest paid workers by 3.1% to £7.62. It was also decided that as of July, employees who received double time for working Sundays and bank holidays would be entitled to time and a half.

Tesco maintain that the minority of workers who suffered detriment as a result of the pay changes were granted an agreed lump sum transition payment.

Legal Action

A group of 17 workers – who have been working at the company since before 1999 – have initiated legal action, arguing that these pay cuts affect certain groups of staff.

The lawyers representing these workers have requested that Tesco reveal how many employees have been affected. They predict that the pay change could have impacted as many as 50,000 workers, who are mostly over the age of 40.

We will be monitoring the developments of this case and keep you updated.