Minimum wage offenders named 


Asian restaurant chain Wagamama was one of 179 employers named and shamed for not paying the statutory National Minimum Wage to some of its staff.


In total, the 179 employers had underpaid 9,200 minimum wage workers by £1.1 million.


As well as recovering back pay for the 9,200 workers, the government also fined the employers a total of £1.3 million in penalties for breaking National Minimum Wage laws. 


Wagamama was found to have underpaid 2,630 staff to the tune of over £133,300. Another large restaurant chain — TGI Fridays — was found to have underpaid 2,302 staff by £59,348. 


Bridgend End House Nursery in Brighouse, West Yorkshire, owed two members of staff the most on average. Those two workers were owed £41,938 or an average £20,969 per worker.


Premier league football club Stoke City and rugby super league team St Helens also featured in the list.


The most prolific offending sectors in this round of naming and shaming — the 14th round — were: 


• hospitality: 43 employers named for underpaying 5,726 workers a total of £460,459;


• hairdressing: 19 employers named for underpaying 152 workers a total of £43,938; and


• retail: 18 employers named for underpaying 85 workers a total of £27,332.


Since 2013 the scheme has identified more than £9 million in back pay for around 67,000 workers, with more than 1,700 employers fined £6.3 million in total.


www.gov.uk/government/news/nearly-180-employers-named-and-shamed-for-underpaying-thousands-of-minimum-wage-workers