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Asda ups youth pay in wake of new law

04/10/2006

Supermarket chain Asda has announced that it will pay its staff under the age of 18 the same rate as its older workers.

The retailer, owned by grocery giant Wall-Mart, said that it had decided to make the move in keeping with the spirit of new age discrimination laws, although the legislation does not specifically require companies to alter differing wage rates between workers.

The decision will benefit more than 5,000 workers under the age of 18 who are employed by Asda, with their pay levels set to increase from £5.19 an hour to £5.71 an hour, in line with that paid to the supermarket's other employees.

Asda said that it was spending £1.7 million on the move, which it claims will boost annual take home pay for its under-18 workers by an average of £300.

The decision follows warnings from business leaders that the current minimum wage system risks falling foul of the new age discrimination laws, which came into force on October 1st.

In a further change to employment laws on Sunday, the national minimum wage was raised to £5.35 an hour for adults, but the British Chambers of Commerce claimed last week that the system could be open to a legal challenge under the new age discrimination rules because employers are entitled to pay those aged under 21 a lower amount than other staff.

Explaining Asda's decision to up its own wage rates for younger workers, Sarah Dickins, the retailer's head of reward and recognition, said: "We simply don't see why young people under the age of 18 working in our stores should be paid any less for doing the same job as someone a bit older."

Indicating that the supermarket had examined its wage policies in light of the new age discrimination laws, Ms Dickins added: "We no longer think it's acceptable to have different pay rates for different age groups - you should be paid for the job you do, regardless of your age."

The move has been welcomed by unions and could place other retailers under pressure to follow Asda's lead.

Jude Brimble, who represents Asda workers who are members of the GMB union, described the retailer's decision as "a very important breakthrough".

"GMB welcomes this and consider that the Low Pay Commission should follow suit and recommend that this becomes the law of the land".


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