Unscrupulous bosses claim that some employees don’t have a “right” to be paid the National Minimum Wage while others don’t “deserve” it.
To mark a new £1.7m awareness campaign (aimed at ensuring workers receive the correct pay) the Government has listed some of the bizarre reasons given for not paying staff the minimum wage.
They include employers only wanting to pay staff when there are customers to serve and believing it was acceptable to underpay workers until they have ‘proved’ themselves.
Ahead of the national minimum and national living wages rising on 1 April, the Government’s campaign says that workers should regularly check their pay and report underpayment at https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage.
Some of the excuses given to HMRC investigators by employers caught out for underpaying staff, include:
- The employee wasn’t a good worker so I didn’t think they deserved to be paid the National Minimum Wage.
2. It’s part of UK culture not to pay young workers for the first three months as they have to prove their ‘worth’ first.
3. I thought it was OK to pay foreign workers below the National Minimum Wage as they aren’t British and therefore don’t have the right to be paid it.
4. She doesn’t deserve the National Minimum Wage because she only makes the tea and sweeps the floors.
5. I’ve got an agreement with my workers that I won’t pay them the National Minimum Wage; they understand and they even signed a contract to this effect.
6. My accountant and I speak a different language – he doesn’t understand me and that’s why he doesn’t pay my workers the correct wages.
7. My workers like to think of themselves as being self-employed and the National Minimum Wage doesn’t apply to people who work for themselves.
8. My workers are often just on standby when there are no customers in the shop; I only pay them for when they’re actually serving someone.
9. My employee is still learning so they aren’t entitled to the National Minimum Wage.