A supermarket worker who was sacked in 1999 for refusing to work on Sundays has been awarded nearly £14,000 plus costs in a landmark case against Safeway, which is predicted to have a massive knock-on effect for other UK retailers.
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Safeway, which has not yet said whether it will appeal the decision, sacked Paul Charnetski after he refused to have his contract hours at the store reduced from 30 to 20 a week in order to avoid working on Sundays.
Charnetski took the issue to an employment tribunal at Stratford in east London, claiming that he was a “protected worker” because he joined the supermarket group six years before the introduction of the Sunday Trading Act in 1994.
Lisa Jinks, employment law solicitor at Peterborough-based Greenwoods, told Retail Week: “This is the first case of its kind to reach court. Until now, [retail] employees might not have been aware of their rights with regards to Sunday trading.
“This decision could open the floodgates.”
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By GlobalData
