Capita Business Services and PizzaExpress are among the 518 employers that the government has named for not paying the minimum wage.
As part of the “latest initiative to make work pay”, the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) announced today that almost 60,000 workers were left with unpaid minimum wages totaling PS7,4 million.
But high-profile employers, such as Capita PizzaExpress, BA and BA, have told Personnel Today their underpayments go back to 2012, and in some cases repayments have been made several years ago.
Justin Madders, Minister of Employment Rights, said: “There’s no excuse for employers who undercut their employees. We will continue to name and shame companies that break the law by not paying their employees what they’re owed.
Our Plan for Change is committed to ensuring that workers receive the support they require and are paid fairly for their fair work. This will help boost productivity, and end low pay.
Baroness Philippa Stroud (chair of the Low Pay Commission, LPC) said: “Underpayment puts workers in a bad situation and is a disadvantage to the majority of employers that do follow the rules.”
These naming rounds are important in ensuring all workers get their full wage and they know that there is support available to them.
Prezzo, Halfords and TUI UK Retail are also high-profile employers. The government has stated that, while not all underpayments of minimum wages are intentional in nature, it will take enforcement action against employers who fail to pay their employees correctly.
The 518 employers listed today have paid back the money they owe their employees and face financial penalties up to 200%. HMRC’s investigations lasted between 2015-2022.
A spokesperson for Capita said: “These unintentional underpayments dated from 2015-2021.”
We apologize for the impact that this may have had on former and current colleagues. We updated our processes and systems to make sure there were no more issues. We have also continued to monitor any changes in employment regulations.
Capita explained the underpayments are due to several issues including the way employees use salary sacrifice schemes and the addition of an additional 25 minutes each week for staff in contact centres to log on for their shifts.
Capita immediately contacted the affected staff, including those that had already left, to resolve the issue. The firm also announced that its minimum wage is now PS12.33 an hour, which is higher than the national living wage (PS12.21).
PizzaExpress’ spokesperson said: “Once made aware of the historic unintentional technicality that occurred between 2012-2018 we quickly identified those affected, apologized and corrected.” We are committed to paying our employees fairly and accurately.
BA’s spokesperson said: “We are among the many companies listed in the Department for Business and Trade list of the national minimum wage.
In 2017, a review revealed that we had unintentionally underpaid cabin crew members who were hired between 2014 and 2017. This was during the first two months. We issued backdated payments a few years ago.
Personnel Today contacted Lidl to get a comment but did not hear back by the time this article was published.
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