To think that the Directors of "Public Limited Companies" should be charged as criminals for not even paying their staff minimum wage.

[smokepole]

Why is it always the companies that could pay their staff not just "Minimum wage" but actually living wages , that are guilty of not even paying Minimum wage. I can understand a a small cafe struggling to pay (but they still manage to pay the minimum wage), yet we have major companies such as "Welcome Break" or H+M not doing so. The worst part of it Welcome Break are trying to justify not doing paying the minimum wage , rather than holding their arms up and saying sorry. Two things should happen the pathetic fine of £51000 should go to all staff underpaid and the Directors should be charged with a criminal offence. If directors were liable to criminal charges, you can bet the "oversights" would not happen or given as excuses. P.S I don't know what is happening to the country, because I am not in the slightest bit left wing, but abuse of poorly paid staff is morally wrong.

Can you provide a link to this story?

Criminality should require intent (I know we're drifting away from that in the UK, but it's a general idea).

It also requires knowledge.

I believe in at least one case mentioned in the news, the underpayment came about because computer systems did not handle an employees birthday correctly when they became 21 (and thus the NMW they were being paid should have gone up). The employee notified them and it was fixed - although it had affected a few.

Cock up over conspiracy every time.

The point being in that specific case, not only was there was no intention on the part of the directors not to pay the NMW, but they didn't know it was happening.

Sky News Website under UK News "Fined Named and Shamed" including H+M and Welcome break. Sorry Don't now how to link.

Is it a cock up or is it a case "let it happen and see how long we can get away with it" then when the get caught ( think how many members of might not of realised ) say Sorry mistake save £171K pay a £51k fine. Peanuts for a big company.

How many members of staff might not have realised they were short changed say by £1 or £2 times by 5000 staff multiplied by 52 weeks = £520000 saved for the company and nobody notices? Straight to the Chairman's Bonus.

Here's a link for anyone who wants it: news.sky.com/story/1408190/minimum-wage-firms-named-and-shamed

The two cases that have been reported on in that article seem to suggest that there was no intention to underpay in either case, but I agree that they should be making more effort to ensure that their staff are paid properly. I would be more concerned if it was a matter of policy though, which it doesn't seem to be.

Is it a cock up or is it a case "let it happen and see how long we can get away with it" then when the get caught ( think how many members of might not of realised ) say Sorry mistake save £171K pay a £51k fine. Peanuts for a big company.

But they aren't saving that money as it has to be repaid to the staff affected with a fine on top.

I think the cases of H&M and Welcome Break are pure cock ups. For the amounts they underpaid, they would almost certainly prefer not to have had the negative publicity and costs associated with representing themselves and paying a fine. In some ways it is embarrassing for them as it points out that they pay the rock bottom MW. I couldn't pay a worker the lower wages for being under 21, I'd struggle to pay less than a living wage. My conscience wouldn't let me.

There are employers (probably mostly smaller ones) that knowingly fail to pay the MW and probably don't pay other things like holiday pay. They deserve to be named, shamed, fined and criminalised.

And this still doesn't deal with the home care agencies who don't pay NMW because they exclude travelling time between clients.

That is a continuing scandal.

I completely agree Sallyingforth - how we treat those workers who help to care for the most vulnerable in society is a disgrace and highlights how we feel about they people they care for.