Asda: Leeds employee underpaid £600 after 'major' IT glitch affects thousands of staff

A “major glitch” during a transition to a new IT system in March resulted in a pay issue affecting 9,500 Asda employees who receive hourly wages.

One of them who works at a store in Leeds complained that he had missed out on over £600 and that it was not rectified until two weeks later.

The Leeds-based supermarket chain apologised for the issues and said it was “proactively resolving” them by making sure payments were made to staff.

The issues are said to have arisen as a result of a transition to a new IT system away from the one that was operated by former US owners Walmart. It was also said by Asda to be related to holiday pay.

The member of staff in Leeds, who requested to remain anonymous, said that after receiving the wrong pay on March 22 he brought the issue up with managers.

He said: “There’s been issues before with pay but this is a big one.

“Management were pretty redundant with helping us sort it out. We kept being told it was being escalated but then nothing would happen.

“They are on a salary so it makes you wonder whether things had been sorted out sooner if they had been on an hourly wage.”

He added that there is no longer a HR department that people can speak to directly and that most matters are dealt with directly, which caused further issues.

He was eventually paid on April 5, adding: “It’s not that they have made a mistake it’s the fact that they took two weeks to rectify it.”

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An Asda spokesperson said: “While the majority of Asda’s 150,000 colleagues were paid correctly this month, we know there have been discrepancies for some hourly-paid colleagues. We sincerely apologise to those affected and want to reassure them we are proactively resolving this issue by making additional payments as soon as possible.”

A spokesperson for GMB, the union that represents Asda workers, said: "GMB understands many Asda colleagues experienced significant issues with their pay on March 22.

"The issue has arisen due to the change in 'People Systems' used by Asda as they move away from old Walmart systems.

"Asda has issued significant comms to stores on this issue, however it seems from the anecdotal feedback GMB members have been giving that many colleagues have been significantly underpaid.

"This is clearly causing stress and anxiety for many workers -  GMB hopes this is something that Asda can resolve quickly."