Law digests: 21 April 2023

Employment

Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd v Clark and others [2023] EWCA Civ 386, [2023] All ER (D) 17 (Apr)

The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the appeal brought by the appellant, a supermarket company, from a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) which had allowed the respondents’ appeal and reinstated their claims. In 2015 and 2016, a large number of employees working in supermarkets brought equal pay claims against their employers, who included the appellant and other well-known retailers. The claims had generally been brought on a multiple claim form, a type of document expressly permitted by rule 9 of the Employment Tribunals Rules of Procedure (ET Rules). The appellant alleged that the EAT had erred in law in interpreting rules 10 and 12 of the ET Rules. It added that the employment tribunal should have rejected large numbers of those claims on the grounds that the claim forms did not contain the reference number of a certificate issued by the Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service relating to early conciliation (EC)