10 outrageous excuses for not paying National Minimum Wage
WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are among more than 200 firms that have failed to pay workers legal national minimum wage (NMW). The employers were found to have failed to pay their workers almost £5 million in a clear breach of NMW law, leaving around 63,000 workers out of pocket.
The employers named previously underpaid workers in the following ways:
- 39% of employers deducted pay from workers’ wages.
- 39% of employers failed to pay workers correctly for their working time.
- 21% of employers paid the incorrect apprenticeship rate.
Whilst not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, there is no excuse for underpaying workers. However, some employers have tried the most outrageous excuses to justify their failure to pay their workers NMW.
And before you read these, I want to clarify that these are genuine excuses that employers have given to HMRC enforcement officers – not a single one is made up:
