Asda bosses have lost a Supreme Court equal pay fight with store workers.
More than 40,000 Asda store workers, about two-thirds of whom are women, brought equal pay claims saying staff working in distribution depots, most of whom are men, unfairly get more money.
Asda bosses said store jobs are not comparable to distribution centre jobs.
Supreme Court justices on Friday ruled against Asda bosses.
They decided that store workers were entitled to compare themselves to distribution staff for equal pay purposes.
An Asda spokesman said: “This ruling relates to one stage of a complex case that is likely to take several years to reach a conclusion. We are defending these claims because the pay in our stores and distribution centres is the same for colleagues doing the same jobs regardless of their gender.
"Retail and distribution are very different sectors with their own distinct skill sets and pay rates. Asda has always paid colleagues the market rate in these sectors and we remain confident in our case.”
Store workers bringing claims are members of the GMB union, which hailed the ruling as “amazing news”.
Susan Harris, the GMB’s legal director, said: “This is amazing news and a massive victory for Asda’s predominantly women shop floor workforce.
“We are proud to have supported our members in this litigation and helped them in their fight for pay justice.
“Asda has wasted money on lawyers’ bills chasing a lost cause, losing appeal after appeal, while tens of thousands of retail workers remain out of pocket.
“We now call on Asda to sit down with us to reach agreement on the back pay owed to our members – which could run to hundreds of millions of pounds.”
