海角视频

Almost 140 companies are being 鈥渘amed and shamed鈥� today for failing to pay their workers the minimum wage.

The companies are named by the Government for failing to pay workers the minimum wage, with the list ranging from those with just one employee to supermarket giant Tesco.

Ministers said 139 companies have short-changed their employees and have been fined.

Offending firms failed to pay 拢6.7m to their workers, in a 鈥渃ompletely unacceptable breach of employment law鈥�, said the Business Department.

The list includes five firms from Wales:

• Mr Phillip Brookman, trading as Phillip Brookman Decorator & Plasterer, Cardiff, failed to pay 拢5,141.70 to one worker;
• Shades Hair Design Limited (dissolved December 18, 2018), trading as Shades Hair & Beauty, Bridgend CF32, failed to pay 拢1,487.98 to two workers;
• Rainbows Day Care (Pembrokeshire) Limited (dissolved March 3, 2020), Pembrokeshire SA66, failed to pay 拢1,273.38 to 46 workers;
• Smart Solutions (Recruitment) Limited, Newport NP18, failed to pay 拢1,152.09 to 90 workers; and
• Mistsolar Limited, trading as Bridgend Ford, Bridgend CF31, failed to pay 拢739.00 to one worker.

Business Minister Paul Scully says the list should be a 鈥渨ake-up call鈥� to rogue bosses, as the department relaunches the naming scheme after a two-year pause.

Investigated between 2016-18, the 139 named companies failed to pay 拢6.7m to over 95,000 workers in total, in a flagrant breach of employment law. The offending companies range in size from small businesses to large multinationals which employ thousands of people across the 海角视频.

Mr Scully said: 鈥淧aying the minimum wage is not optional, it is the law. It is never acceptable for any employer to short-change their workers, but it is especially disappointing to see huge household names who absolutely should know better on this list.

鈥淭his should serve as a wake-up call to named employers and a reminder to everyone of the importance of paying workers what they are legally entitled to.

鈥淢ake no mistake, those who fail to follow minimum wage rules will be caught out and made to pay up.鈥�

One of the main causes of minimum wage breaches was low-paid employees being made to cover work costs, which would eat into their pay packet, such as paying for uniform, training or parking fees.

Also, some employers failed to raise employees鈥� pay after they had a birthday which should have moved them into a different national minimum wage bracket.

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 hefty financial penalties of up to 200% of arrears 鈥� capped at 拢10,000 per worker 鈥� which are paid to the Government. Each of the companies named today have paid back their workers, and were forced to pay financial penalties.

A Tesco spokesman said: 鈥淏ack in 2017 we identified a technical issue that meant some colleagues鈥� pay inadvertently fell below the national minimum wage.

鈥淲e are very sorry this happened and proactively reported the issue to HMRC at the time.

鈥淎ll our colleagues were reimbursed in full and we immediately changed our policies to prevent this happening again. In most cases the reimbursement was 拢10 or less.

鈥淥nce we uncovered this mistake, we took a proactive, transparent
and co-operative approach with HMRC.

鈥淲e are therefore extremely disappointed and surprised to have been included in this list as none of the examples shared by BEIS [the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy] relate to Tesco, and it was Tesco that self-reported this issue to HMRC in the first instance.

鈥淲e take our obligations to our colleagues very seriously and all colleagues were reimbursed in full in 2017.鈥�

Hannah Slaughter of the Resolution Foundation commented: 鈥淟ow-paid workers have been at the heart of the Covid-19 crisis, keeping the country afloat as lockdowns come and go.

鈥淭hese workers should be paid properly, and restarting the Government鈥檚 naming and shaming regime will help to clamp down on firms flouting the minimum wage.鈥�

TUC general secretary Frances O鈥橤rady said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a national scandal that so many workers, many of whom are key workers, aren鈥檛 being paid the minimum wage.

鈥淢any of those who fail to pay their workers the minimum wage won鈥檛 be named today. The Government raised the threshold for naming employers compared with the old scheme, meaning fewer bad bosses are exposed.鈥�

Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to see that robbing employers are being shamed, deservedly, again, but it would be far better to make stealing from them unappealing in the first place.

鈥淭oo many bad bosses get away with it. The rogues don鈥檛 fear the inspector鈥檚 knock at the door.

鈥淭hey probably think, with justification, that they have more chance of winning the lottery than being caught for their crimes.鈥�