Supreme Court rules against Nexus over pay row

The UK's highest court has ruled against Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus in a long-running pay battle.

The row, which dates back to 2012, is centred on differing interpretations of a pay agreement which affected about 150 maintenance staff.

The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed an appeal by Nexus to change an alleged mistake in the original contract.

While the latest ruling does not decide how much money the operator may have to pay, judges ruled it cannot seek rectification to avoid the original wage claims. Nexus said it would "carefully consider" the next steps.

At the time, Nexus offered to consolidate a 25.5% "productivity bonus" into staff's basic pay packet, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The RMT and Unite unions contended that the employer should have also increased a separate allowance for working particular shifts in line with that pay uplift, as the shift allowance was calculated by reference to basic pay.

But Nexus refused to do so and denied that this had been its intent.

While the unions claimed staff had been underpaid, Nexus argued there had been a mistake made in the pay agreement and sought to have it rectified.

The disagreement sparked years of litigation.

Some 70 staff brought a claim against Nexus in a 2015 employment tribunal, known as the Anderson proceedings.

While they were successful, there has yet to be a ruling on any payment.

That is because Nexus began separate proceedings in the High Court in 2020 seeking to rectify the alleged mistake in the original pay agreement.

The unions argued the court had no power to order the change to the contract, and that any claim for rectification ought to have been made in earlier proceedings.

Lord Leggatt and Lady Simler wrote in their Supreme Court judgement that Nexus cannot now seek rectification to avoid the wage claims from the Anderson proceedings.

They added it would be an "abuse of process" if Nexus were to seek to undo the result of that employment tribunal and deprive the Anderson claimants of their victory.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham hailed it as "vindication".

A Nexus spokesperson said it would "carefully consider the next steps in the case".

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