Main shops named and shamed for breaking minimal wage regulation

Retail giants WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are amongst companies who’ve been “named and shamed” by the Government for breaking the minimal wage regulation.

Almost £5 million was discovered to be owed to round 63,000 staff following investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs relationship again so far as 2017. Named employers have been made to pay again what they owed, and as well as have been fined round £7 million.

A spokesman for WH Smith stated: “Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores.

“This was a genuine error and it was rectified immediately with all colleagues reimbursed in 2019.”

Kevin Hollinrake, minister for enterprise, markets and small enterprise, stated: “Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff.

“Most businesses do the right thing and look after their employees, but we’re sending a clear message to the minority who ignore the law: pay your staff properly or you’ll face the consequences.”

Bryan Sanderson, chairman of the Low Pay Commission, stated: “Regular naming rounds should be a useful tool in raising awareness of underpayment and helping to protect minimum wage workers.”

The Government stated Lloyds Pharmacy have been one other employer at fault, reporting that it did not pay £903,307 to 7,9116 staff. Lloyds has been contacted for remark.

It additionally reported that Marks & Spencer did not pay £578,390 to five,363. In response, an M&S spokesman stated: “Like many other organisations, M&S is only named in the list because of an unintentional technical issue from over four years ago.

“This happened simply because temporary colleagues were not paid within the strict time periods specified in the national minimum wage regulations and was remedied as soon as we became aware of the issue.

“Our minimum hourly pay has never been below the national minimum wage, it is currently above it and no colleagues were ever underpaid because of this.”

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s-owned retailer Argos was named for failing to pay £480,093 to over 10,000 staff.

A Sainsbury’s spokeswoman stated: “Back in 2018, a payroll error was identified which affected some Argos store colleagues and drivers and dated back to 2012, before Sainsbury’s acquisition of Argos.

“We launched an immediate investigation, working alongside HMRC, and put this right at the time.

“Since then we have completed the integration of Argos onto Sainsbury’s systems which will prevent this from happening again.”