Employers named & shamed for paying under the minimum wage - ensure you're paid correctly
HMRC has released its latest "named and shamed" list of employers who have been caught paying less than the minimum wage. Millions were owed to workers and as such, the Government has urged employees to utilise tools to make sure they're being paid correctly.
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HMRC regularly names and shames employers who have been caught paying their employees less than the minimum wage. The Government highlighted 191 businesses broke national minimum wage laws and this includes major household names.
Following investigations from HMRC, it was shown a total of £2.1million was found to be owed to over 34,000 workers.
These breaches took place between 2011 and 2018.
Named employers have since been made to pay back what they owed, and were fined an additional £3.2million, which HMRC detailed showed "it is never acceptable to underpay workers".
HMRC noted not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, but it has always been the responsibility of employers to abide by the law.
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The employers named yesterday previously underpaid workers in the following ways:
- 47 percent wrongly deducted pay from workers’ wages, including for uniform and expenses
- 30 percent failed to pay workers for all the time they had worked, such as when they worked overtime
- 19 percent paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate
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Paul Scully, the Business Minister, commented: "Our minimum wage laws are there to ensure a fair day’s work gets a fair day’s pay – it is unacceptable for any company to come up short.
"All employers, including those on this list, need to pay workers properly.
"This Government will continue to protect workers’ rights vigilantly, and employers that short-change workers won’t get off lightly."
Employers who pay workers less than the minimum wage have to pay back arrears of wages to the worker at current minimum wage rates.
They also face financial penalties of up to 200 percent of arrears - capped at £20,000 per worker - which are paid to the Government.
Since 2015, the Government has ordered employers to repay over £100million to one million workers.
Bryan Sanderson, the Chair of the Low Pay Commission, reflected on the importance of the minimum wage.
"These are very difficult times for all workers, particularly those on low pay who are often undertaking critical tasks in a variety of key sectors including care," he said.
"The minimum wage provides a crucial level of support and compliance is essential for the benefit of both the recipients and our society as a whole."
The full list of named and shamed employers can be found on the Government's website but it includes a number of big names such as John Lewis, The Body Shop and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
In light of these findings, HMRC urged workers to seek guidance from the Government's check your pay website.
This service provides workers with advice and tools on how they can ensure they're being paid correctly.
This covers all areas of the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage, which includes rates for apprenticeships and aged based payments.