Firms’ £1.9m in fines for failing to pay minimum wage

EMPLOYERS HAVE been slapped with a record £1.9m fine and forced to dish out extra money to staff for failing to pay a minimum wage.

More than 13,000 low paid workers will be handed around £2m in back pay after government investigations pinpointed firms not offering a National Minimum Wage or a Living Wage.

The review identified 233 employers who had deprived staff of a full wage, with catalogue retailer Argos emerging as the worst offender.

Business minister Margot James said: “It is against the law to pay workers less than legal minimum wage rates, short-changing ordinary working people and undercutting honest employers.

“Today’s naming round identifies a record £2m of back pay for workers and sends the clear message to employers that the Government will come down hard on those who break the law.

“Common errors made by employers in this round included deducting money from pay packets to pay for uniforms, failure to account for overtime hours, and wrongly paying apprentice rates to workers.”

Argos, which was bought by supermarket giant Sainsbury’s last year, had not paid 12,176 people who worked for the firm close to £1.5m, the Government found.

Sainsbury’s, who flagged the error in February, said the amount was actually £2.4m for 37,000 people when taking into account both current and former staff.

All the staff have now received their back pay.

John Rogers, chief executive of Argos, said: “Sainsbury’s prides itself on being a trusted brand where people love to work and I was, therefore, very disappointed to hear this and launched an immediate investigation.”