Government names employers who fail to pay minimum wage
9 Jun 2014 11:47 AM
Employers who owe their
workers thousands of pounds for failing to pay them the correct National
Minimum Wage have been named and shamed.
Yesterday (8 June 2014), a
further 25 employers who failed to pay their employees the minimum wage have
been named under the new regime introduced last October 2013, which makes it
easier to name and shame wrongdoers. Between them they owe workers more than
£43,000 in arrears and in addition have to pay financial penalties
totalling over £21,000.
Business Minister Jenny Willott
said:
Paying less than the minimum
wage is not only wrong, it’s illegal. If employers break the law they
need to know that they will face tough consequences.
Any worker who is entitled to
the minimum wage should receive it. If anyone suspects they are not being paid
the wage they are legally entitled to they should call the Pay and Work Rights
helpline on 0800 917 2368.
The government has introduced a
series of tougher measures to crack down on employers that break National
Minimum Wage law. As well as being publicly named and shamed, employers that
fail to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage also face new penalties of
up to £20,000 - 4 times higher than before.
The government also plans to
legislate in the new parliamentary session so that employers can also be given
penalties of up to £20,000 for each individual worker they have
underpaid, rather than the maximum penalty applying to each employer. This will
mean if an employer underpays 10 workers, they could face penalties of up to
£200,000.
The 25 employers
are:
- Christine Cadden and Nicola
Banks of Renaissance, Wirral, neglected to pay £7,310.65 to 3
workers
- Alan King and John King of
Arthur Simpson & Co, Bradford, neglected to pay £6,426.12 to a
worker
- Central Heating Services Ltd,
Hampshire, neglected to pay £6,200.28 to 4 workers
- Cargilfield School Ltd,
Edinburgh, neglected to pay £3,739.58 to a worker
- A2ZEE Construction Ltd,
Cramlington, neglected to pay £3,375.51 to 14 workers
- Mr and Mrs Balasco of Eugenio,
Bristol, neglected to pay £3,037.53 to 2 workers
- Mr and Mrs Hampton of The
Wheatsheaf Inn, Cheshire, neglected to pay £2,057.88 to 4
workers
- Steven Stainton of Steven
Stainton Joinery, Cumbria, neglected to pay £1,415.82 to a
worker
- Runbaro Ltd, Swindon, neglected
to pay £1,413.88 to a worker
- Satwinder Singh Khatter and
Tejinder Singh Khatter of The Bath Hotel, Reading, neglected to pay
£1,237.79 to 2 workers
- Richard Last of Classic
Carpentry, Godalming, neglected to pay £1,236.72 to a
worker
- We are Mop! Ltd, London,
neglected to pay £1,018.05 to 2 workers
- Mrs Sue English of Legends
Hairdressers, Colchester, neglected to pay £823.40 to a
worker
- Saftdwin Ltd, Hampshire,
neglected to pay £806.37 to 2 workers
- Master Distribution Ltd, Essex,
neglected to pay £718.62 to a worker
- Perth Hotels Ltd, Perth,
neglected to pay £556.80 to a worker
- Bryants Nurseries Ltd,
Hertfordshire, neglected to pay £494.07 to a worker
- Dove Mill Retail Outlet Ltd,
Bolton, neglected to pay £461.84 to a worker
- Luigi’s Little Italy Ltd,
Yorkshire, neglected to pay £281.04 to 5 workers
- CPS SW Ltd, Exmouth, neglected
to pay £261.29 to a worker
- Mr Gary Calder, Mr Richard
Calder and Mr Neil Calder of Avenue Agricultural, Northamptonshire, neglected
to pay £256.55 to a worker
- Dakal Ltd, Northampton,
neglected to pay £252.00 to 2 workers
- Zoom Ltd, Havant, neglected to
pay £242.28 to 3 workers
- HSS Hire Service Group Ltd,
Manchester, neglected to pay £149.00 to 15 workers
- Sun Shack Ltd, Hamilton,
neglected to pay £134.35 to 8 workers
The 25 cases named yesterday (8
June 2014) were thoroughly investigated by HM Revenue & Customs after
workers made complaints to the free and confidential Pay and Work Rights
helpline. Employers who are unsure of National Minimum Wage rules can also get
free advice and information from the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917
2368 or by visitingwww.gov.uk.
Notes to
editors:
1.Employers have a duty to be
aware of the different legal rates for theNational Minimum
Wage.
The government has announced the
following rates will come into effect on 1 October 2014:
- a 19p (3%) increase in the adult
rate (from £6.31 to £6.50 per hour)
- a 10p (2%) increase in the rate
for 18-20 year olds (from £5.03 to £5.13per hour)
- a 7p (2%) increase in the rate
for 16-17 year olds (from £3.72 to £3.79 per
hour)
- a 5p (2%) increase in the rate
for apprentices (from £2.68 to £2.73 per hour)
2.The government is committed to
increasing compliance with minimum wage legislation and effective enforcement
of it. Everyone who is entitled to the minimum wage should receive it.
The BIS scheme to name employers who break minimum wage law came into
effect on 1 January 2011. The scheme is one of a range of tools at the
government’s disposal to tackle this issue. Employers who pay workers
less than the minimum wage not only have to pay back arrears of wages at
current minimum wage rates but also face financial penalties of up to
£20,000. In the most serious cases employers can be
prosecuted.
3.From 1 October 2013 the
government revised the naming scheme to make it simpler to name and shame
employers who break the law. Under this scheme the government will name all
employers that have been issued with a Notice of Underpayment (NoU) unless
employers meet one of the exceptional criteria or have arrears of £100 or
less. All 25 cases named failed to pay the national minimum wage and have
arrears of over £100.
4.Employers have 28 days to
appeal against the NoU (this notice sets out the owed wages to be
paid by the employer together with the penalty for not complying with minimum
wage law). If the employer does not appeal or unsuccessfully appeals against
this NoU, BIS will consider them for naming. The employer then
has 14 days to make representations to BIS outlining whether they
meet any of the very exceptional criteria: naming by BIS carries a
risk of personal harm to an individual or their family or there are national
security risks associated with naming, or there other factors which suggests
that it would not be in the public interest to name the employer or company. Of
these, the public interest criteria will only apply in very exceptional
circumstances. BIS will normally expect to inform the employer of the
outcome of any representations made within 14 days of receipt of any
representation made by the employer. If BIS does not receive any
representations or the representations received are unsuccessful, the employer
will be named via a BIS press release under this
scheme.
5.Further information about the
revised BIS NMW naming scheme can be found at Enforcing national
minimum wage law.