Ms S Abraityte & Others v 2 Sisters Food Group Ltd — 2019

This was a remitted hearing after the Employment Appeal Tribunal overturned an earlier amendment decision. The tribunal considered the claimants' application to amend equal pay claims to add comparator roles and claimant job roles, together with the respondent's application to strike out parts of the claims.

The tribunal refused permission to add older job roles performed by the claimants. It held that adding those roles would amount to new causes of action, many relating to roles from years earlier, and that allowing them would cause greater prejudice to the respondent than to the claimants. The claimants had in any event confirmed they would proceed only with the roles held immediately before the factory closure.

The tribunal granted permission to amend the descriptions of the claimants' last job roles and refused strike out. It found that some differences were the same role, minor mislabelling, or corrections based on information held by the respondent. For five male claimants requiring discretion, the tribunal allowed the amendments, noting their claims were contingent on the female claimants' success.

The tribunal also granted leave to add Oven Operatives, Ground Services, Despatch Controller and Despatch Supervisors as comparator roles, balancing prejudice in favour of allowing the claimants to rely on those comparators. It granted the amendment concerning a 9.21% shift allowance differential as part of the pleaded back pay claim, not a new head of claim.