Staffline and easyJet among 500 companies criticised for minimum wage breaches

Recruiter Staffline, pub group Mitchells & Butlers and airline easyJet have been named as some of the major British companies that did not pay some staff the minimum wage.

The Government released a list of 524 businesses that failed to pay employees the national minimum wage, or the national living wage, which is what the Government calls the minimum wage for people aged over 21.

Around 172,000 workers were left out of pocket as a result, the Department for Business and Trade said.

“Employees deserve to get paid properly for the hard work they put in,” said Kevin Hollinrake, minister for enterprise, markets and small business.

“While the majority of businesses already do the right thing and pay their staff what they are owed, today’s announcement sends a message to the minority who aren’t – that there are repercussions to undercutting hard work from their staff.”

Staffline failed to pay 36,767 workers correctly, owing them a total of around £5.13 million before making it right, the department said.

The firm told shareholders in 2019 that it was facing a financial hit after realising it had underpaid staff, as it had not included the time workers on food production lines spent changing in and out of work clothes.

“Staffline would like to clarify that these are historic breaches and related to the period 2013 to 2018,” the company said.

“Remedial actions were taken in 2019 and formally concluded with HMRC to their complete satisfaction in 2020.”

Fast food chain Greggs failed to pay 4,793 employees an average of £45.72 they were due, also because of uniforms.

The company said: “During a review with HMRC (HM Revenue & Customs), it was brought to our attention that our uniform policy for retail colleagues was not aligned with HMRC’s interpretation of national minimum wage regulations, and as a result, we revised our uniform policy in January 2018.

“Once the review was concluded, we reimbursed colleagues and former colleagues who had been impacted by this unintended error.”

The department said all the companies on the list have paid what they owe to staff and been hit with financial penalties up to 200% of the amount they underpaid.

The investigations that led to the list were performed by HMRC between 2015 and 2023.

EasyJet said it was on the list – underpaying 3,898 staff at an average of £86.94 each – because some cabin crew were paid less than allowed for their first three weeks when they were training between 2014 and 2019.

“This was a genuine error which we immediately rectified and issued back payments to all affected crew,” the airline said.

Mitchells & Butlers underpaid 16,187 staff an average of £34.91 each, gambling company Rank underpaid 5,629 staff an average of £170.99, and beauty company Estee Lauder underpaid 5,933 staff an average of £150.85.

Mitchells & Butlers said: “As the minister notes, not all underpayments are intentional and this was the case here.”

It blamed a “technical misinterpretation of the regulations” which was identified in 2019. M&B added: “All arrears due were paid to our valued employees and ex-employees at the end of the review and we have updated our policies where necessary.”

Estee Lauder said it had “never intentionally paid our valued colleagues less than the minimum wage”.

The firm added: “In 2019, like many other companies, we were made aware that we had misinterpreted guidance from HM Revenue & Customs on the way in which payment was taken for voluntary staff purchases of our concession products and on staff clothing requirements.

“We immediately made sure all affected employees were informed and reimbursed and updated our procedures.”