Next Wins Equal Pay Appeal

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has handed down a significant judgment in the long running Next equal pay litigation, providing important guidance on when employers can rely on labour market pressures to justify pay differences between roles that have already been found to be of equal value.

This is an important moment in equal pay litigation. It gives employers more confidence that genuine labour market pressures can justify differences in basic pay, but the wider litigation is far from over.

Background

The claims were brought by thousands of predominantly female shop workers who argued that they were paid less than warehouse operatives, despite the roles having been assessed as being of equal value. The original Employment Tribunal ruled in favour of the claimants in 2024, finding that Next had failed to justify the difference in pay.