Asda facing mass legal action over gender pay discrepancies

Walmart-owned Supermarket chain Asda is being sued over alleged discrepancies between the salaries it pays to male and female workers.

The BBC reports that several female employees in Asda’s distribution warehouses have raised the action, with over 10,000 staff having expressed an interest in joining the case.

In some cases it is alleged that the pay difference for men and women is up to 4 per hour for identical roles. If successful, some workers could be eligible for compensation for lost salary dating back six years.

Asda has denied all the accusations and insisted that it does not discriminate.

"A firm of no win, no fee lawyers are hoping to challenge our award-winning reputation as an equal opportunities employer,” a company representative said. We do not discriminate and are very proud of our record in this area which, if it comes to it, we will robustly defend."

ONS statistics suggest that in 2013 the pay gap between men and women in the UK stood at 19.7 per cent.