News & Events
News & Events
Naomi Cunningham was part of a legal team who, today, have won a High Court challenge against the Office for National Statistics regarding a question on sex and the issue of self-identification in the 2021 census. Campaign Group Fair Play for Women has won its campaign to have guidance from the Office for National Statistics about the “sex” question in the 2021 Census permanently withdrawn. Mr Justice Swift granted permission and interim relief in an urgent hearing in the Admin Court last week, and listed the case for an expedited full merits hearing on 18th March 2021. Jason Coppel QC and Tom Cross from 11KBW and Outer Temple Chambers’ Naomi Cunningham were instructed by Sinclairslaw for Fair Play…
News 17 Mar, 2021
The conclusion of the Court of Appeal in Asda Stores Ltd v Brierley [2019] EWCA Civ 44 handed down this morning. Thousands of Asda’s mainly female retail staff are entitled to compare themselves for equal pay purposes with workers in Asda’s network of warehouses and distribution centres. More than 27,000 claims have been presented by Leigh Day & Co, with hundreds of new claims added every month. The shop workers say their customer-facing roles are undervalued compared to warehouse work. Each of them is claiming up to six years’ arrears of pay. This appeal was Asda’s latest unsuccessful attempt to stop the mass claims in their tracks. The Court refused Asda’s application for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court,…
News 31 Jan, 2019
Andrew Short QC, Naomi Cunningham and Keira Gore (instructed by Leigh Day) have successfully represented over 7000 claimants before the Employment Appeal Tribunal in the UK’s largest ever private sector equal pay claim. The appeal was to determine whether predominantly female workers in Asda’s retail stores were entitled to compare themselves to higher paid male workers in Asda’s distribution centres. Asda’s position was, in short, that because it set the more favourable terms and conditions of the distribution workers separately to the terms of the retail workers the two pay regimes were distinct and incomparable. This argument was rejected by the EAT who found that a comparison was valid applying domestic law and EU law. This judgment makes it clear…
News 31 Aug, 2017
Outer Temple Chambers is pleased to have been shortlisted for Employment Set of the year while Andrew Short QC has received a nomination for Employment Silk of the year. Our employment & discrimination team continues to reinforce its reputation as a major player in the sector, with an number of key appointments to the team in recent years. Andrew, together with Naomi Cunningham and Keira Gore, is counsel for the claimants in Brierley & others v Asda. This is the largest equal pay claim that the private sector has seen. Read more about Andrew and our Employment team or contact David Smith for further information. Winners of the awards will be listed on Monday 27th October.
News 20 Oct, 2016
Adams & Ors v Asda Stores Ltd has been selected as one of the top 20 most important cases of 2015 by The Lawyer. Three Outer Temple barristers, Andrew Short QC, Naomi Cunningham and Keira Gore are instructed by Leigh Day for the claimants. This landmark equal pay claim is the first of its kind to be brought against a private sector employer. The full article is available online through via The Lawyer’s website.
News 19 Jan, 2015
In a case described by the BBC as “Made in Dagenham for the 21st Century”, thousands of female ASDA shop workers are claiming equal pay with the company’s predominantly male warehouse staff, saying their own work is of equal value. Three Outer Temple barristers, Andrew Short QC, Naomi Cunningham and Keira Gore are instructed by Leigh Day for the claimants. All three were previously instructed in mass equal pay litigation against Birmingham City Council. The ASDA case is the first such claim against a private sector employer, but it is unlikely to be the last. You can read more on the BBC.
News 25 Oct, 2014
Andrew Short QC, leading Naomi Cunningham, has secured a significant victory in ongoing mass equal pay litigation against Birmingham City Council. The Council argued that a number of claims were defeated because the claimants had agreed to the modified grievance procedure, which required them not only to state their grievance, but to set out the basis for it – and they had failed to set out the basis.
News 1 May, 2012
