This week, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, names 179 employers for failing to pay a record 9,200 workers £1.1m collectively. In addition, they were made to pay £1.3m in fines to the government.
Of the 179 employers, the most notable names in hospitality and retail revealed to be non compliant are the Marriott hotel, Xercise4Less and Wagamama.
The list has been released to highlight the upcoming national And they were warned that minimum pay rates will increase again on 1 April.
The hotel chain Marriott has underpaid 279 of its staff over £250 each on average.
The company apologised and said it was committed to paying the National Minimum Wage.
“When an error was identified by a routine HMRC audit in 2015, we co-operated fully with HMRC and promptly reimbursed all those affected.”
“We have since updated our payroll system so that this cannot happen again and reimbursed all impacted associates,” a spokesperson said.
The hotel chain is second on the list of offenders on the government list, having to repay £71,723 to 279 workers. They were among 43 employers in the hospitality sector on the government’s latest list of firms breaking the law.
The business minister, Andrew Griffiths, said: “There are no excuses for short-changing workers. This is an absolute red line for this government, and employers who cross it will get caught – not only are they forced to pay back every penny but they are also fined up to 200% of wages owed. Today’s naming round serves as a sharp reminder to employers to get their house in order ahead of minimum wage rate rises on 1 April.”
The legal minimum wage for over-25s will rise from £7.50 to £7.83 an hour next month, and the business department is aiming to publicise the new rates to workers and employers.
