Tesco faces legal action from staff in pay dispute

tesco

The complaint is from 17 workers who are “extremely unhappy” at seeing their pay rates change for weekends, bank holidays and night shifts, reports The BBC.

Leigh Day, the law firm acting for the workers, estimated thousands of long-term Tesco staff, mainly in their 40s, could be affected.

Tesco said workers would receive a “transition payment” for the changes.

The employees have started the process towards making a claim in an employment tribunal, according to Leigh Day.

Pay changes announced by Tesco in February included an hourly wage rise, but also cuts to the rates paid to some Sunday and bank holiday staff.

Under the changes, staff would receive time and a half for Sunday and bank holiday shifts from July, whereas previously some had received double time.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: “Earlier this year we announced a pay increase of up to 3.1% for colleagues working in our stores across the UK, in addition to a 5% turnaround bonus.

“As part of the pay negotiations we also agreed to simplify premium payments to ensure a fair and consistent approach for all colleagues.

“The minority of colleagues who were negatively impacted by this change were supported with an agreed lump sum transition payment.”