Next wins key appeal to overturn £30m equal pay ruling

Retailer Next has won an appeal allowing the company to continue paying warehouse workers a higher hourly rate than shop floor staff, scoring a significant victory in a long-running legal battle over equal pay.

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has overturned a key component of a landmark 2024 ruling, which had previously concluded that the retailer acted wrongfully by paying basic wages to warehouse employees higher than those of store staff performing work of equal value.

More than 3,500 current and former employees, predominantly women, were originally in line to share potentially upwards of 30 million pounds in back pay as a consequence of the earlier judgment. However, the tribunal accepted arguments that Next was justified in offering higher pay rates due to acute recruitment and retention pressures within its warehouse operations.

In an official statement, the company noted that the significance of the decision lies in the confirmation that relying on market forces to distinguish between employee groups is justifiable when a solid rationale exists to compensate one group more than another.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

"The importance of this decision is that the Appeal Tribunal has confirmed that it was justifiable for Next to rely on market forces to distinguish between different groups of employees, where there was a good rationale to pay one group more than the other."

Next

Law firm Leigh Day stated that judges did uphold the 2024 findings regarding night-time premiums, overtime premiums, and paid rest breaks. In response, Next announced it will now seek permission to appeal those specific decisions.

Both the initial Employment Tribunal and the latest Appeal Tribunal concurred that there was no direct sex discrimination embedded within Next's pay rates, despite shop floor roles being predominantly held by women and warehouse roles by men.

Source: BBC Business