The owners of a butcher’s shop in Yorkshire have become the first employers in the country to be convicted of deliberately not paying staff the national minimum wage. The owners were ordered to pay a combined amount of over £10,000 in compensation to two former employees, plus costs.
The Employers had set out to conceal their underpayments. Adequate records had not been kept and then pay records had been falsified in an attempt to convince HM Revenue and Customs compliance officers that they had been paying the correct amounts. As a result of their actions they were found guilty of various offences under S.31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998.
The Government, in the Employment Bill, is toughening up powers to punish those who don’t pay the minimum wage, including introducing potentially unlimited fines. Inspectors will also have greater investigative powers.
Tags: national minimum wage
