12 March 2018
Big name employers such as Wagamama, TGI Friday, Karen Millen and several football clubs were on the latest government ‘name and shame’ list published today. The list featured 179 employers who were fined £1.3m by the government for not paying 9,200 workers the correct National Minimum Wage / National Living Wage.
According to news reports, several of the high-profile cases were due to the rules being incorrectly applied on uniforms and deductions. Wagamama asked their front-of-house staff to wear black jeans or a black skirt with their Wagamama branded top, which HMRC regarded as asking them to buy uniform. Similarly, the TGI Fridays case meant having to reimburse team members for black shoes, also regarded by HMRC as uniform.
Hilary Hall, chief executive of the NHBF says:
“Deductions from pay, for any reason, is a tricky area and you should take legal advice before doing so, even if your employees agree to deductions being made. If such deductions take a team member below the minimum wage, then you’re breaking the law. That’s why the NHBF contracts don’t allow you to make deductions to cover the cost of uniforms, tools and equipment.
She added: “And these cases clearly demonstrate that you can’t require employees to buy or supply uniform, even if you haven’t actually deducted the cost from their pay. HMRC will still consider the cost of items which employees have to supply as a deduction from wages for the purposes of calculating the national minimum wage.”