Tesco has lost a Court of Appeal challenge over how tribunals should assess the roles of shop workers and warehouse operatives in its long-running equal pay litigation.
The judgment, handed down on 12 May 2026, dismissed the supermarket’s challenge to an Employment Tribunal approach used to determine the job facts of Tesco customer assistants and distribution centre workers as part of the equal value process.
The ruling comes as Tesco continues to defend a major equal pay claim brought by store workers who argue their roles are of equal value to higher-paid warehouse jobs.
Law firm Leigh Day, which is acting for more than 16,000 Tesco shop workers, said the decision was an important step in improving access to justice in large-scale equal pay claims.
The firm said a central issue in the appeal was Tesco’s attempt to stop the Tribunal relying on its own training materials and operational documents when assessing what customer assistants and warehouse operatives were required to do.
The Court of Appeal upheld the Tribunal’s approach, recognising that Tesco operates in a highly regulated environment and uses detailed training materials to ensure work is carried out consistently across its stores.
It accepted that Tesco had a “strong business need” for customer assistant and warehouse operative roles to be performed consistently across its operations, and that its training materials could properly be treated as evidence of what staff were required to do unless there was clear evidence to the contrary.
Leigh Day said the judgment was significant because it rejected attempts to force thousands of workers to individually prove every aspect of their jobs where an employer has already standardised how that work should be carried out.
The Court of Appeal also provided guidance that tribunals in large-scale equal pay litigation may, in appropriate cases, assess jobs more generically rather than requiring each claim to be examined on an overly individualised basis.
Leigh Day said this could help reduce delay and complexity in mass equal pay claims involving major employers.
The ruling follows a separate Employment Tribunal hearing in which Tesco is seeking to justify paying predominantly female store workers less than predominantly male distribution centre workers. Leigh Day argues that Tesco cannot lawfully rely on “market rates” to justify the pay gap.
Leigh Day employment partner Kiran Daurka said: “The Court of Appeal has recognised the importance of removing unnecessary hurdles that prevent everyday people from accessing justice in complex equal pay litigation.
“This judgment is a welcome clarification that, in large-scale cases involving sophisticated respondents like Tesco and other large retailers, tribunals can take a practical and proportionate approach to assessing jobs, which then mitigates against unnecessary complexity to delay or obstruct claims.
“Our clients have always maintained that these cases should focus on the reality of the work being done, not on creating artificial barriers that make equal pay claims impossible to pursue. This ruling will help future claims progress in a more streamlined and accessible way.”
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