CHENNAI: Over 200 companies have been listed by the British Government for failing to pay minimum wage to their employees.
Companies ranging from major high-end brands to small firms are named in the list by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT). The companies named on the list have to pay back their employees what they owe them and have to face financial charges as well.
All the companies have to pay 5 million euros to their 63,000 workers as they were left 'out of pocket'.
Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business Kevin Hollinarke said, "Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all business, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff."
"The minimum wage acts as a guarantee to ensure all workers without exception receive a decent minimum standard of pay. Where employers break the law, they not only do a disservice to their staff but also undermine fair competition between businesses," said Bryan Sanderson, the Chair of the Low Pay Commission.
As per the list, industry giants like WH Smith Retail Holdings, Argos, Marks&Spencer, and Chanel Limited have failed to pay their employees.
WH Smith tops the list, having failed to pay more than 1 million euros to 17,607 workers.
According to The Mirror, this shortfall was due to a new uniform policy that required employees to wear black trousers or skirts and shoes, but the company did not provide them.
“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," WH Smith spokesperson told The Mirror.
He added that it was a genuine error and rectified immediately by reimbursing the employees.
As per the DBT report, Marks&Spencer, the multinational retailer that specializes in fashion had failed to pay more than 5,00,000 euros to 5,363 of their workers.
An M&S spokesperson told The Mirror, "Like many other organisations, M&S is only named in the NMW list because of an unintentional technical issue from over four years ago... Our minimum hourly pay has never been below the national minimum wage"
According to DBT, 39% of the 200 companies deducted pay from workers’ wages, 39% failed to pay workers correctly for their working time, and 21% paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate.