Workplace Report February 2001

Features: Law at work

Defining the minimum wage

All adult employees aged 21 and over have the right to be paid the national minimum wage - at least £3.70 an hour. The EAT has ruled that where an employer increases the hourly rate, to bring it up to the minimum but does this by reducing an attendance allowance, this can amount to an unlawful deduction.

(Laird v AK Stoddart 834/00)