In Asda v Brierley and ors the Court of Appeal has upheld the decisions of the ET and EAT that in a claim of equal pay for work of equal value, Asda supermarket employees, mainly women, can compare their work with distribution workers based at depots, who are mostly men, and who are paid more. The Court rejected Asda’s argument that a comparison could not be made because there were different “sources” for retail terms, where pay is determined internally and imposed, and distribution terms, which are collectively bargained through the GMB union. The Board had the power to set or change the terms, but it had delegated the setting of pay to separate internal organs and the Board “could interfere at the stroke of a pen”. 

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