Business Ethics and Social Responsibility: Morrisons' Equal Pay Case

This case study examines the equal pay claim against supermarket chain Morrisons, focusing on the ethical issues of equal pay and transparency. The article highlights claims that female employees were paid less than their male counterparts for similar work, leading to a $1.30 billion compensation claim. The key ethical issues identified include the failure to provide equal pay for equal work and a lack of transparency in pay policies, potentially leading to employee dissatisfaction and reduced organizational performance. The suggested solution involves open communication, a transparent payment audit, and involving employees in the decision-making process to ensure fairness and address the root causes of the dispute. The case underscores the importance of honesty, ethical decision-making, and adherence to principles of common good in resolving such issues.

Business ethics and social responsibility 1
Business ethics and social responsibility
Student Name
Name of the Course
Professor Name
Name of the School
City or State located
Date

Business ethics and social responsibility 2
Article: Supermarket chain stores Morrisons facing equal pay claims worth 1 billion pounds.
Introduction
The ethical issue in the article is equal pay where women are being paid less compared to
male employees within the organization. The organization affected by the ethical issue is a
supermarket chain store known as Morrisons (George and Davey, 2018). In the article, female
employees have been complaining about not being given equal treatment in regards to pay and
compensation. They discovered that their employer was paying the male employees a high pay
compared to them irrespective of working equally within the same department. The female
employees were being represented by a law firm where their investigations proved that female
employees were not being paid in which the total value of the arrears was valued at $ 1.30
billion. This is a clear indication that most of the female employees were not being paid.
However, the supermarket denied those claims (George and Davey, 2018). Through their
spokesperson, the supermarket was not aware of any legal proceeding taking place in court about
claims of equal between the female and male employees. The organization asked the law firm to
carry out a payment audit to validate those claims. This could provide evidence of the ongoing
claims about female employees not being equally compensated as the male employees.
According to the article, an agreement is yet to be established to prove that the females were
being paid unequally. However, from the evidence collected, there is proof that the female
employees were being paid unequally compared to their male employees.
Main argument in the article
The article is about a supermarket chain known as Morrisons which was faced with an
equal pay claim valued at $1.30 billion. The law firm that was seeking for compensation was

Business ethics and social responsibility 3
Leigh Day. The organization was sued for not paying women the same amount as the male
employees within the organization. It was discovered that women were being paid less amount of
money (George and Davey, 2018). According to the law firm, there were more than 80,000 staffs
who were eligible for the compensation. Following the claim, the supermarket was asked to carry
out an internal equal pay audit to authenticate the claims that were being raised by the
employees. The supermarket’s spokesman denied the claims that there were no ongoing court
proceedings about the pay policies that were raised in court by the female employees.
Key ethical issue
The key ethical issue being raised in the article is equal pay. The organization failed to
pay female employees the exact amount of male as their male counterpart in the workplace. In
any organization, employees have the right to equal pay (Cachat‐Rosset, Carillo and Klarsfeld,
2017, p.57). Gender should not be an issue causing indifference in pay when all employees are
performing the same amount of work load. With this kind of ethical issue, female employees will
not be willing to work in such an environment. Additionally, from the article, the reputation of
the organization may be destroyed hence reducing the rate at which customers buy products.
Being a supermarket, it may experience a low turnover of employees. This may be translated to
reduced organizational performance.
The second ethical issue that is being raised from the article is transparency. This is
exhibited from withheld in information from employees. Lack of transparency made the female
employees realize that they were being paid a different amount of salary compared to the male
employees within the organization. Lack of transparency within an organization may lead to
numerous organizational challenges such as reduced job satisfaction and engagement from
employees (Arulrajah, 2017, pg. 419). Within the organization, without transparency there may

Business ethics and social responsibility 4
be mismanagement of both financial and human resources (Manimegalai and Baral, 2018, pg.
121). This is key indicator of an organization that is deemed to fail. Additionally, employees will
feel demotivated in their work station
Personal opinion on the solution of the case
According to the information provided in the article, the organization refused the claim
that they were not aware of the ongoing court proceeding in regards to the unequal pay based on
gender differences. The case is similar where the same law firm filed a petition to court where
women employees at Asda Stores Limited were not being paid equally as their male counterparts
although they were performing work of equal value. The retail organization denied those claims
claiming that their ethical policies and payment policies do not allow them to carry out such
practices. Being that there is legal action that has been taken, the organization ought to have
accrued a transparent payment audit where a portion of employees will be selected to participate
in the process. This process will be able to prove that women were being given a different pay in
their workplace (George and Davey, 2018). In this case, from the evidence collected, Morrisons
was not giving an equal for the female employees despite doing the same job content like the
males.
Ethical decision
The main ethical issue in the article is transparency and equal pay for the women. The
first step towards solving the solving is arranging for a meeting where the parties concerned will
be placed in a forum to identify the problem (Luu, 2018, p.53). The next step will involve being
open to the female employees on the payment criteria that is being used. This will ease the
tension. During this process, the organization should be clear and honest on the strategy being

Business ethics and social responsibility 5
used to pay the male and female employees. The payment structure may be based on work load
and the number of hours that the employees are working. When it comes to compensation, all
employees should be liable to same employment compensation package. Furthermore, the rate of
compensation of employees once they have retired should be made public to prevent cases of
mistrust and integrity. Through involving the employees in the decision-making process, they
will be able to understand that there is a difference between the payment structure for men and
women. This will provide adequate information (Vasumathi 2018, p.105). The main problem
why women are claiming that they are not being equally compensated is due to lack of adequate
information about the payment structure for the two genders. According to the seven morals of
philosophies, honesty is a key factor to consider. Additionally, there is the aspect of common
good where both parties affected by the issue will feel like their issues have been solved.

Business ethics and social responsibility 6
References
Arulrajah, A.A., 2017. Productivity and Quality Management through Human Resource
Management: A Systematic Review. International Review of Management and Business
Research, 6(2), p.419.
Cachat‐Rosset, G., Carillo, K. and Klarsfeld, A., 2017. Reconstructing the Concept of Diversity
Climate–A Critical Review of Its Definition, Dimensions, and Operationalization.
European Management Review. pp. 23-64
George P. and Davey J.2018.Supermarket chain stores Morrisons faces equal pay claims worth
1 billion pounds. Retrieved from: https://www.reuters.com./article/us-britain-morrison-
supermark-women/supermarket-chain-morrisons-faces-equal-pay-claims-worth-1-billion-
pounds-idUSKCN1LR2L8?FEEDtYPE=rss&feedName=topNews/
Luu, T.T., 2018. Engaging employees with disabilities in Vietnamese business context: The roles
of disability inclusive HR practices and mediation and moderation mechanisms.
Employee Relations. Pg. 53
Manimegalai, S. and Baral, R., 2018. Examining the mediating role of organizational trust in the
relationship between CSR practices and job outcomes. Social Responsibility Journal. pp.
94-138
Vasumathi, A., 2018. Work life balance of women employees: a literature review. International
Journal of Services and Operations Management, 29(1), pp.100-146.