The United Kingdom has started naming, shaming, and fining companies – many of them household names – for failing to pay workers the legal minimum wage.
The first tranche of embarrassed enterprises, which included famous brands Argos, Lloyds Pharmacy, Marks and Spencer, and WHSmith, totaled more than 200 companies that the nation's Department of Business and Trade said had underpaid 63,000 workers a total of 5 million pounds ($6.4 million).
The government department said the breaches were investigated by HM Revenue and Customs, or HMRC, between 2017 and 2019.
HMRC is the government department responsible for tax collection and the enforcement of financial rules and regulations.
The Department of Business and Trade said the companies found guilty of underpaying their workers were fined a total of 7 million pounds and ordered to pay employees money owed to them.
Kevin Hollinrake, the UK's minister for enterprise, markets, and small business, said the government wanted to send a clear message to companies underpaying workers that they will face consequences.
"Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff," he said.
Many of the companies found guilty of paying workers less than the minimum wage had broken the rules by making deductions from salaries that were initially at the legal minimum. Others had not correctly counted up the number of hours workers had accrued. Other had paid apprentices the wrong rate for their work. Some companies had paid their workers the minimum wage but then asked them to spend some of their earnings on such things as uniforms, which effectively meant they were underpaid.
The Department of Business and Trade noted that many companies had made mistakes and had not intentionally underpaid workers, but it said it was the duty of employers not to make errors.
"Most businesses do the right thing and look after their employees," Hollinrake said, but he noted that enterprises that make mistakes and the "minority who ignore the law" will face consequences.
The government raised the national minimum wage by 9.7 percent in April, to 10.42 pounds an hour, partly in a bid to mitigate the impact of a cost-of-living crisis in the nation that has seen wages rise less quickly than inflation, which is currently running at 8.7 percent.
Argos, Lloyds Pharmacy, Marks and Spencer, and WHSmith all said their failure to pay all of their workers at least the minimum wage had been unintentional and was swiftly remedied.
Bryan Sanderson, chairman of the Low Pay Commission that advises the government on issues around the minimum wage, said highlighting companies that get it wrong will help raise awareness and protect the UK's lowest-paid workers.
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