Black Country businesses named and shamed for failing to pay minimum wage

They are among employers nationally which have been ordered to repay workers and faced penalties of nearly £2 million after breaches left around 12,000 workers out of pocket.

Business Minister Paul Scully said: “We want workers to know that we’re on their side and they must be treated fairly by their employers, which is why paying the legal minimum wage should be non-negotiable for businesses.”

The 21 employers in the region were found to have failed to pay their workers more than £57,000 in a breach of National Minimum Wage law, leaving over 500 workers out of pocket.

They included five employers in the Black Country

• Careerlink, Walsall, which failed to pay £4,000.30 to 237 workers

• Crusty Cottage, Sandwell, which failed to pay £3,037.81 to two workers

• Awat Osman, trading as Birchills House Hand Car Wash, Walsall who failed to pay £2,985.84 to two workers.

• Integrated Water Services Limited, Walsall, which failed to pay £1,438.50 to five workers.

• Sparkley Hand Car Wash Ltd, Sandwell, which failed to pay £798.02 to five workers.

The arrears all ended in 2017 and 2018.

Companies being named range from multinational businesses and large high street names to small firms and sole traders, in a clear message that no employer is exempt from paying their workers the statutory minimum wage.

These businesses have since had to pay back what they owe to staff and also face significant financial penalties of up to 200 per cent of what was owed, which are paid to the government. The investigations by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs concluded between 2014 and 2019.

The employers named underpaid workers by deductions that reduce minimum wage pay such as workers being out of pocket to comply with the dress code; unpaid working time such as mandatory training, trial shifts or travel time; failing to pay the correct rate to apprentices and not increasing NMW pay in line with government rises, or paying the wrong minimum wage rate.