Key facts
- Next has won an appeal allowing it to pay warehouse workers a higher hourly rate than shop floor staff.
- The Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned a 2024 ruling that had found the retailer was wrong to pay warehouse staff higher basic pay.
- The tribunal accepted Next's justification that higher rates for warehouse staff were due to recruitment and retention pressures.
- Leigh Day, representing store workers, plans to appeal the decision on basic pay.
- The tribunal upheld findings on night-time premiums, overtime premiums, and paid rest breaks for store workers.
Next has successfully appealed a ruling that would have required the UK retailer to pay its shop floor staff the same basic hourly wage as its warehouse workers. The Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned a significant part of a 2024 judgment, accepting Next's argument that higher pay for warehouse staff was justified by market recruitment and retention pressures.
This decision is a landmark victory for Next, which argued that it needed to pay a higher market rate to warehouse operatives due to specific pressures that did not apply to its store workforce. The company stated that the ruling affirms the principle that employers should be able to pay necessary market rates without being obliged to raise the pay of other employees without a similar justification.
However, the ruling is a disappointment for the more than 3,500 current and former employees, predominantly women, who had been set to share potentially over £30 million in back pay. The law firm Leigh Day, representing the store workers, has indicated its intention to appeal the decision on basic pay, while acknowledging that the tribunal upheld findings related to night-time premiums, overtime premiums, and paid rest breaks for store workers.
Next has stated it will seek permission to appeal these upheld points. The original tribunals found no direct sex discrimination in Next's pay practices, as shop floor staff are predominantly female while warehouse workers are predominantly male. The case, which covered the period from 2012 to 2023, saw warehouse staff earning between 38p and £3.13 more per hour than retail sales workers. The outcome of this case is being closely watched by other major retailers like Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, and Sainsbury's, which are involved in similar equal pay claims.