GMB call for union role following list of underpaying employers in South East
GMB call for union role as 18 employers in the South East are named and shamed for underpaying minimum wage workers. “Non-compliance with the terms of the national minimum wage as well as the national living wage is more widespread than people think,” say GMB Southern.
GMB have called for a union role in reporting underpayment following the naming and shaming of 18 underpaying employers in the South East. A press release from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, has listed 179 employers across the UK that have underpaid thousands of minimum wage workers.
The employers have been found underpaying 9,200 workers over £1.1 million. The companies found guilty of underpaying have been fined £1.3 million on top of the full backpay. The report from BEIS comes before the minimum wage rates rise on 1 April from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour.
Companies named and shamed whose trading address is in the South East include; National Society For Epilepsy (THE), who failed to pay £55,251.37 to 26 workers; Lickfold Inn Limited, trading as The Lickfold Inn, who failed to pay £23,754.87 to 37 workers; Karen Millen Fashions Limited, who failed to pay £9,847.20 to 28 workers; Meejana Limited, trading as Meejana, who failed to pay £6,488.88 to 6 workers; Pentlow Community Care Limited, who failed to pay £5,725.38 to 36 workers; and Jeta Car Wash Ltd, trading as Queensway Car Wash, who failed to pay £4,584.93 to 3 workers.
Paul Maloney, GMB Southern Regional Secretary said: "Non-compliance with the terms of the national minimum wage as well as the national living wage is more widespread than people think as these results for employers named and shamed show.
"GMB has persistently called for unions to be given the right to be able to report cases of underpayment to HMRC so that workers can remain out of the limelight and therefore reduce the risks of exposing themselves to threats of retaliation.
"So far this call has fallen on deaf ears. GMB will continue to press for this change."
Contact: Michelle Gordon 07866 369 259 or GMB Press Office 07970 114 762
Notes to Editors: Press release from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (9 March 2018) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nearly-200-employers-named-and-shamed-for-underpaying-thousands-of-minimum-wage-workers
