Retail giants WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are among firms who have been “named and shamed” by the Government for breaking the minimum wage law. Almost £5million was found to be owed to around 63,000 workers following investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs dating back as far as 2017.
Named employers have been made to pay back what they owed, and in addition were fined around £7million. High street retailer WH Smith was the worst offender, according to HMRC, with the new figures claiming it failed to pay around £1 million to 17,607 workers. The retailer blamed this on an error related to its company uniform policy.
A spokesman for WH Smith said: “Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores. This was a genuine error and it was rectified immediately, with all colleagues reimbursed in 2019.”
