Britain's Tesco faces record $5.6 bln equal pay claim

Supermarket group Tesco is facing a potential bill of up to 4 billion pounds ($5.6 billion) to bring the wages of its female employees into line with men, according to the law firm pursuing Britain's largest equal pay claim.

    Tesco is Britain's biggest retailer and its largest private sector employer with more than 310,000 staff.

    Law firm Leigh Day said on Wednesday (February 7) the mainly male staff in the company's distribution centres were paid considerably more than its largely female store workers. The law firm said it was also working on claims at supermarket rivals Sainsbury's  and Asda, the British arm of Walmart.

    Leigh Day said Tesco distribution centre staff may earn in excess of 11 pounds ($15.4) an hour, while the most common grade for store staff saw them receive around 8 pounds per hour.

 .  This disparity could see a full time distribution worker on the same hours earning over 100 pounds a week - or 5,000 pounds a year - more than female store staff.

    The law firm said more than 200,000 Tesco employees may be underpaid and estimated shortfalls could reach 20,000 pounds each, meaning the potential bill for Tesco could be as high as 4 billion pounds.

    Unequal pay for men and women is currently a hot topic in Britain's boardrooms and corridors of power. The resignation last month of Carrie Gracie as China Editor for the BBC led to an investigation into pay differences at the public broadcaster. 

    British Business Secretary Greg Clark says putting businesses under the spotlight is all part of its new legislation which madates that UK companies with more than 250 employees to publish their gender pay gap data by April 2018.