[UK] Greggs and easyJet among employers named for minimum wage failings

In the UK, Greggs, easyJet and Estee Lauder have featured near the top of a notorious government ‘name and shame’ list of employers found failing to pay workers the national living wage, Yahoo reports.

The well-known businesses appeared in a list of 542 firms forced to repay more than £16m to 172,000 workers in underpayments since 2015. Some also received fines.

HMRC investigations conducted and closed between 2015 and 2023 reportedly uncovered numerous national minimum wage breaches, such as making employees pay for uniforms out of their wages and deductions illegally made to cover PPE, food, childcare and training costs.

In addition, workers were found to have been underpaid for their time, with hours rounded down, or travel time, mandatory training and trial shifts excluded from payment.

Recruitment company Staffline was reportedly the worst offender;  failing to pay more than £5m to nearly 34,000 workers.

Casino and bingo owner the Rank Group were second, underpaying 5,629 workers by £960,000, Estee Lauder was third, with 5,933 employees paid nearly £900,000 less than they were due.

easyJet was the eighth worst offender with almost 4,000 workers underpaid by nearly £340,000. Popular bakery chain Greggs was eleventh, short by nearly £220,000 to nearly 4,800 employees.

The Department of Business, Trade and Industrial Strategy did not disclose the level of fines given to companies found breaching NMW law. It cited their right to privacy but said the "naming and shaming" was intended to "send a message that no employer is exempt from paying their workers that statutory minimum wage".

Pub chain Mitchell and Butlers, food giant 2 Sisters Poultry and NHS Highland numbered among the top 25 worst offenders.

Sky Subscribers Services Limited - a division of Sky and owner of Sky News - was reportedly discovered to have underpaid 757 employees by a total of £55,067.

Despite the steady increase in basic wages and the nation’s relatively low and stable unemployment, the UK labour market is widely considered an impediment to economic growth, with more than 900,000 vacancies and more than 9 million people declared "economically inactive".

Unions claim that unstable and insecure working conditions - such as the use of zero-hours contracts that give no employment rights to workers - have contributed by countering rising basic pay.

Estee Lauder reportedly said that it had "never intentionally" breached the legislation. It blamed the underpayments on a misinterpretation of HMRC guidance regarding deductions for staff clothing.

A Greggs spokesperson said, "During a review with HMRC, it was brought to our attention that our uniform policy for retail colleagues was not aligned with HMRC's interpretation of national minimum wage regulations, and as a result, we revised our uniform policy in January 2018.

"Once the review was concluded, we reimbursed colleagues and former colleagues who had been impacted by this unintended error."

A Rank Group spokesperson said, "This issue relates to an historic situation involving some of our National Minimum Wage colleagues which was rectified in 2019.

"As soon as we were made aware of an inadvertent technical breach of the legislation, we quickly identified who was impacted and we corrected our practices to ensure we were in line with the strict legislative criteria at that time."

An easyJet spokesperson said, "This was a genuine error which we immediately rectified and issued back payments to all affected crew.

While all crew in this period (2014-2019) were paid in line with the NMW for their total annual salary, this review in 2018 identified a specific issue affecting our new entrant cabin crew only during their initial three week training course, as some payments only apply once crew are flying. easyJet is committed to treating its people fairly, paying competitively and complying with market practices."

The other companies named were also reportedly approached for comment.

Source: Yahoo

(Link and quotes via original reporting)

In the UK, Greggs, easyJet and Estee Lauder have featured near the top of a notorious government ‘name and shame’ list of employers found failing to pay workers the national living wage, Yahoo reports.

The well-known businesses appeared in a list of 542 firms forced to repay more than £16m to 172,000 workers in underpayments since 2015. Some also received fines.

HMRC investigations conducted and closed between 2015 and 2023 reportedly uncovered numerous national minimum wage breaches, such as making employees pay for uniforms out of their wages and deductions illegally made to cover PPE, food, childcare and training costs.

In addition, workers were found to have been underpaid for their time, with hours rounded down, or travel time, mandatory training and trial shifts excluded from payment.

Recruitment company Staffline was reportedly the worst offender;  failing to pay more than £5m to nearly 34,000 workers.

Casino and bingo owner the Rank Group were second, underpaying 5,629 workers by £960,000, Estee Lauder was third, with 5,933 employees paid nearly £900,000 less than they were due.

easyJet was the eighth worst offender with almost 4,000 workers underpaid by nearly £340,000. Popular bakery chain Greggs was eleventh, short by nearly £220,000 to nearly 4,800 employees.

The Department of Business, Trade and Industrial Strategy did not disclose the level of fines given to companies found breaching NMW law. It cited their right to privacy but said the "naming and shaming" was intended to "send a message that no employer is exempt from paying their workers that statutory minimum wage".

Pub chain Mitchell and Butlers, food giant 2 Sisters Poultry and NHS Highland numbered among the top 25 worst offenders.

Sky Subscribers Services Limited - a division of Sky and owner of Sky News - was reportedly discovered to have underpaid 757 employees by a total of £55,067.

Despite the steady increase in basic wages and the nation’s relatively low and stable unemployment, the UK labour market is widely considered an impediment to economic growth, with more than 900,000 vacancies and more than 9 million people declared "economically inactive".

Unions claim that unstable and insecure working conditions - such as the use of zero-hours contracts that give no employment rights to workers - have contributed by countering rising basic pay.

Estee Lauder reportedly said that it had "never intentionally" breached the legislation. It blamed the underpayments on a misinterpretation of HMRC guidance regarding deductions for staff clothing.

A Greggs spokesperson said, "During a review with HMRC, it was brought to our attention that our uniform policy for retail colleagues was not aligned with HMRC's interpretation of national minimum wage regulations, and as a result, we revised our uniform policy in January 2018.

"Once the review was concluded, we reimbursed colleagues and former colleagues who had been impacted by this unintended error."

A Rank Group spokesperson said, "This issue relates to an historic situation involving some of our National Minimum Wage colleagues which was rectified in 2019.

"As soon as we were made aware of an inadvertent technical breach of the legislation, we quickly identified who was impacted and we corrected our practices to ensure we were in line with the strict legislative criteria at that time."

An easyJet spokesperson said, "This was a genuine error which we immediately rectified and issued back payments to all affected crew.

While all crew in this period (2014-2019) were paid in line with the NMW for their total annual salary, this review in 2018 identified a specific issue affecting our new entrant cabin crew only during their initial three week training course, as some payments only apply once crew are flying. easyJet is committed to treating its people fairly, paying competitively and complying with market practices."

The other companies named were also reportedly approached for comment.

Source: Yahoo

(Link and quotes via original reporting)