Avondale Foods and Arla Foods are among 202 companies that have been named for not paying staff minimum wage.
Avondale Foods (Craigavon) Limited failed to pay £9,007.35 to 149 workers while Arla Foods, Leeds, failed to pay £1,916.60 to 14 workers, in breaches dating back over five years.
Other companies on the list include Dulhorn Farm Holiday Park, Weston-Super-Mare, which failed to pay £37,880.77 to 13 workers; Victor Foster Poultry Services Limited, Markethill, which failed to pay £33,045.17 to 284 workers; and Calmac Services Limited, trading as Riverside Vets Canvey, Canvey Island, which failed to pay £1,912.81 to one worker.
The Department for Business and Trade “named and shamed” the 202 companies today (Wednesday, June 21) to send a “clear message” to employers.
“Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff,” Minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business Kevin Hollinrake said.
In total, the 202 named employers failed to pay their workers almost £5 million, leaving around 63,000 workers out of pocket.
However, the department said that all companies have paid back what they owe to their staff and have also faced financial penalties amounting to almost £7 million in total.
The employers named in the list previously underpaid workers in the following ways:
- 39% of employers deducted pay from workers’ wages;
- 39% of employers failed to pay workers correctly for their working time; and
- 21% of employers paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate.
The Department for Business and Trade said that while not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, there is no excuse for underpaying workers.
“The minimum wage acts as a guarantee to ensure all workers without exception receive a decent minimum standard of pay,” Bryan Sanderson Chair of the Low Pay Commission said.
“Where employers break the law, they not only do a disservice to their staff but also undermine fair competition between businesses.
“Regular naming rounds should be a useful tool in raising awareness of underpayment and helping to protect minimum wage workers.”
