Marco PierreWhite restaurant in wage blunder
THE Marco Pierre White restaurant in Birmingham has been named and shamed for not paying some of its staff the minimum wage.
Dozens of workers at the premium rooftop steakhouse, based in The Cube, were not paid nearly £7,000 over a three-year period.
The company behind the restaurant, Quadrate Catering, was named on a Government list of firms which had failed to pay staff the minimum wage at certain periods over the last decade.
Some 78 restaurant workers were not paid a total of £6,825 between March 2015 and May 2018. Quadrate blamed a “technical breach” with the payment of wages relating to “uniforms and induction” following a “misunderstanding”.
It comes after the company, which owns the franchise to Marco Pierre White Steakhouse, went into administration earlier this year. The restaurant, launched by the celebrity chef in 2011, remains open.
A spokesman said: “We can confirm that in July 2017, Quadrate Catering was selected by HMRC for a National Minimum Wage Audit. This included a review of all aspects of the payroll and time management system for compliance.
“The audit, which covered a threeand-a-half year period, was positive, however, a technical breach was identified with the wages of some of the staff in regard to uniforms and induction.
“Despite following best practice guidelines and paying the National Minimum Wage or more to all of the staff, the breach arose from a misunderstanding of the rules. Quadrate Catering worked closely with HMRC and with its help and guidance, the matter was resolved.”
Careerlink in Walsall was another company named over minimum wage failures. It failed to pay 237 workers a total of £4,000 between January 2013 and July 2017, records showed.
Managing director Sarah Benyon said: “Careerlink apologise for the administration error that caused underpayments between 2013 and 2017.
“This was rectified immediately in 2018 having impacted one per cent of our workforce at that time. Our response has seen significant process investment and continuous improvement across our candidate services.”
They were among 208 employers across the country exposed for not paying the minimum wage – currently £8.91 for over-23s.
These businesses have since had to pay back what they owe to staff and also face financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of what was owed, which are paid to the Government.