Feb 16, 2017
Argos fined for underpaying staff on minimum wage
Thousands of Argos workers are to receive a total of £2.4m in back pay after HM Revenue & Customs inspectors found they had been paid less than the minimum wage and hit J Sainsbury, which owns the chain, with a £1.5m fine. The revelation comes a day after the business department named 360 employers who had illegally paid staff below the minimum wage, which will rise in April from £7.20 to £7.66 for over-25s. The job of enforcing the minimum wage has become tougher since the introduction of a higher "National living wage" last April, which the government has promised to increase over the next few years until it becomes one of the highest in the developed world. "Every worker in the UK is entitled to at least the national minimum or living wage," the department said on Thursday, adding that "Minimum wage abuses will not go unpunished". Non-compliance has increased since the national living wage was introduced, according to the Low Pay Commission, the independent body that monitors the effects of the minimum wage. Its best estimate of underpayment rose from 158,000 workers aged 25 and over in April 2015 to 306,000 workers in April 2016, shortly after the living wage was introduced.
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