{
  "id": 16204449,
  "title": "Top court rejects Tesco appeal in ‘equal pay’ case",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/23/top-court-rejects-tesco-appeal-in-equal-pay-case",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-23T16:51:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "City AM",
    "slug": "city-am",
    "url": "https://www.cityam.com/top-court-rejects-tesco-appeal-in-equal-pay-case/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Supreme Court has denied Tesco's attempt to appeal a crucial equal pay ruling concerning its shop workers, numbering over 16,000. Tesco, alongside other UK supermarkets, faces a legal dispute over claims that it underpays store employees—predominantly women—compared to distribution centre workers, predominantly men. The ongoing case, initiated in 2018 by Harcus Parker and Leigh Day, encompasses numerous retail employees from companies such as Asda, Next, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, and the Co-Op, with a potential value of £4bn. In the Tesco case, the dispute arose from the Employment Tribunal selecting generic training documents, instead of individual daily tasks, to define 'work'. Tesco appealed this decision through various courts, but both the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal allowed the appeals partially, though they dismissed Tesco's primary argument to overturn the Tribunal's overall methodology. Tesco aimed to appeal to the Supreme Court, but the UK's highest court rejected its application, thereby allowing the case to proceed to trial using the Employment Tribunals' established methodology for defining 'work'. Kiran Daurka, an employment partner at Leigh Day, stated that this is a significant outcome for the 16,000 Tesco workers being represented and concludes Tesco's challenge in this matter. He further mentioned that they continue to strive for equal pay for their clients in the ongoing litigation. Tesco was asked for a statement.",
  "summary": "The Supreme Court has blocked Tesco from appealing a key ruling in a long-running equal pay claim brought by more than 16,000 shop workers. Tesco is one of several UK supermarkets caught in a legal battle over allegations that it underpays its store workers, mainly women, compared with distribution centre workers, who are mostly men. [...]",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}