A Manchester employment tribunal has awarded a former chief HR officer at the Co-op more than 100,000, in a major equal pay and sexism case.
The remedy decision follows a lengthy eight-year tribunal process after Samantha Walker won a case against the retail business in 2018 based on sex discrimination and unfair dismissal.
However, an employment appeal tribunal overturned this decision in 2019, which was followed by subsequent unsuccessful appeals to the Court of Appeal and to the Supreme Court.
Walker was first employed at the Co-op as director of HR strategic projects in 2013, before being promoted to chief HR officer the next year on a salary of 500,000. This was subsequently readjusted to 425,000 following pay restructuring.
Walker had raised concerns about her pay package compared to that of her male colleagues after being appointed to the executive committee.
In 2018, the tribunal found the Co-op directly discriminated against Walker after rating the claimant’s performance as only ‘partially achieved’ for 2015, without a robust year-end appraisal.
The approach was found inconsistent with that of the male executives, while Walker’s performance prior to this final appraisal had always been assessed as “outstanding”, she told the tribunal.
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