{"id":11515,"date":"2017-02-17T16:01:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T16:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=11515"},"modified":"2017-02-17T16:01:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T16:01:41","slug":"thieving-bosses-named-shamed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=11515","title":{"rendered":"Thieving bosses ‘named and shamed’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Retail giant Argos faces a \u00c2\u01411.5m fine after it was revealed yesterday (February 16) that 37,000 of its current and former workers have been illegally denied the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The revelation means that Argos must fork over \u00c2\u01412.4m in back pay to shop staff, who were underpaid because they were forced to attend meetings and go through security checks during working hours, time for which they were not paid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Argos, which is now owned by Sainsbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, will not be forced to pay the entire \u00c2\u01411.5m HMRC fine \u00e2\u20ac\u201c it is set to receive a discount if the fine is paid within 14 days, which will bring the fine down to \u00c2\u0141800,000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The back pay owed to Argos workers exceeds the amount owed to Sports Direct workers, who received \u00c2\u01411m after they were underpaid the minimum wage for similar reasons last year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The number of businesses \u00e2\u20ac\u0098named and shamed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by the government<\/a> for illegally paying workers below the minimum wage reached a record high of more 350 on Wednesday (February 15).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 359 companies on the list \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the majority of which are in the hairdressing, hospitality and retail business \u00e2\u20ac\u201c underpaid more than 15,000 workers by nearly \u00c2\u01411m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before news broke that Argos, which was not included in the initial government list, retailer and household name Debenhams was the most prolific offender paying below the minimum wage. It was forced to repay \u00c2\u0141134,000 to more than 11,000 staff \u00e2\u20ac\u201c which accounted for more than half of its shop workers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The retailer said that an accounting error was to blame \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and was slapped with a \u00c2\u014163,000 fine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other offenders had higher back pay bills for single workers \u00e2\u20ac\u201c for example, a dental practice in London\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Harley Street owed one worker nearly \u00c2\u014112,000, while another worker at a nursery in Nottingham was owed nearly \u00c2\u01417,000.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last month, the government also released a list of what it called the most \u00e2\u20ac\u0098bizarre\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 excuses<\/a> they received from bosses for not paying the minimum wage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

These included \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshe only makes tea\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI only pay them when customers are in the shop\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthey aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t British so don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have the right to be paid it\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, among others.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TUC general secretary Frances O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Grady said that the news \u00e2\u20ac\u015bshould be a wake-up call for employers who value their reputation.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you cheat your staff out of the minimum wage you will be named and shamed,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBut we also need to see prosecutions and higher fines for the most serious offenders, especially those who deliberately flout the law.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMinimum wage dodgers must have nowhere to hide. We need to see strong unions in every workplace to stop these abuses from happening.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite assistant general secretary Steve Turner agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe government needs to crack down further on employers who failed to pay the national minimum wage to some of the most low-paid and vulnerable workers in the country,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact that the government has mounted only 13 prosecutions for non-compliance since 2007 is pathetic,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn America, bad bosses are jailed and heavily fined for \u00e2\u20ac\u0098wage theft\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 which is what this is, exploiting workers in such a shameful fashion.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe fact that an established household name like Debenhams is on the list is appalling. This is a major retailer with a large HR department \u00e2\u20ac\u201c how could such non-payment be overlooked for so long?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf top executives with mega pay packets weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t getting their bonuses paid on time, all hell would break loose,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he went on to say.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turner welcomed the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0098name and shame\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 list but highlighted that it was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bonly a small step in the right direction and much more is needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bTo address growing levels of poverty a genuine living wage must be introduced, sector level collective bargaining introduced and stronger more effective enforcement funded,” he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis would mean proper resources for the agencies responsible for enforcement and the cuts they have suffered in recent years to be reversed.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turner also noted that Unite believes the government\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s national minimum wage, currently \u00c2\u01417.20 an hour, is \u00e2\u20ac\u015binadequate and pathetically low\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and added that it is \u00e2\u20ac\u015bleading to obscene levels of growing poverty in our communities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite strongly support a minimum living wage of \u00c2\u014110 an hour.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Retail giant Argos faces a \u00c2\u01411.5m fine after it was revealed yesterday (February 16) that 37,000 of its current and former workers have been illegally denied the minimum wage.   The revelation means that Argos must fork over \u00c2\u01412.4m in back pay to shop staff, who were underpaid because they were forced to attend meetings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6784,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[215],"wps_subtitle":"Argos tops list, owing \u00c2\u01412.4m in back pay","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11515"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11516,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11515\/revisions\/11516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}