Primark and SportsDirect.com are just two companies to be named and shamed for underpaying minimum wage rates.
The figures released by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy revealed that Primark failed to pay £231,973.12 to 9,735 workers, while SportsDirect.com failed to pay £167,036.24 to 383 workers.
The government has identified £1.7 million in back pay for 16,000 workers – more workers than in any previous naming round, with 260 employers named and fined a total of £1.3 million for underpaying the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage rates.
The most common reasons for not paying the correct wage were: failing to pay workers travelling between jobs, deducting money from pay for uniforms and not paying for overtime.
‘The Low Pay Commission’s conversations with employers suggest that the risk of being named is encouraging businesses to focus on compliance,’ said Bryan Sanderson, Chairman of the Low Pay Commission. ‘Further, it is good to see that HMRC continues to target large employers who have underpaid a large number of workers, as well as cases involving only a few workers, where workers are at risk of the most serious exploitation.’
Since 2013, the scheme has identified £8 million in back pay for 58,000 workers, with 1,500 employers fined a total of £5 million. This year the government will spend a record £25.3 million on minimum wage enforcement.
