Latest news with #minimumwage
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Pizza Express and British Airways among firms named for minimum wage failings
Pizza Express, British Airways, and outsourcing firm Capita are among leading businesses named by the government for failing to pay some of their staff the minimum wage. After investigations by HM Revenue and Customs, more than 60,000 low-paid workers have received back pay worth £7.4m after 518 employers failed to meet the legal minimum wage level. German-owned supermarket chain Lidl and Halfords were also on a 'name and shame' list of culprits issued by the Department for Business and Trade. The investigations were conducted between 2015 and 2022, but have only recently been completed and all back-payments agreed, allowing for publication of the full list, a spokesperson for the business department said. Capita, one of the government's biggest contractors, was the worst offender after it failed to pay £1.5m to 5,543 workers. A spokesperson for Capita said 'inadvertent underpayments' were to blame between 2015 and 2021, due to issues including adding 25 minutes a week for call centre staff to log in for their shifts. 'All owed monies were paid immediately, and we are sorry for any impact this had on colleagues and former colleagues at that time,' the company added. 'Our processes and systems were updated to ensure there would be no further issues; we have continued to monitor them carefully, as well as any changes to employment regulations.' Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers – amounting to about £90 on average. A spokesperson for Pizza Express said: 'Once we were made aware of this historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018, we swiftly identified who was impacted, apologised and rectified. 'There's nothing more important to us than fairly and accurately paying our team members.' British Airways was named for failing to pay £231,276 to 2,165 workers. The company said an audit in 2017 revealed 'we had accidentally, slightly underpaid some of our cabin crew who joined us between 2014 and 2017 during their first two months of employment. 'We apologised and issued backdated payments several years ago.' A spokesperson for Halfords said: 'The rates that we pay our colleagues are competitive and are at or above the minimum wage. However, in 2021 we found some historical work-related costs that should have been met by us as the employer rather than our colleagues. We moved quickly to identify those impacted in order to make the necessary payments. 'All of the costs involved are now met by the company,' they added. Paul Nowak, TUC general secretary, said ministers needed to vigorously investigate breaches of minimum wage rules. He said: 'Wage theft is bad for workers, families, and the economy. Every pound stolen from a worker's pocket is a pound not spent in local shops, cafes and high streets.' The National Living Wage for workers aged 21 and over rose in April from £11.44 an hour to £12.21 an hour.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Pizza Express, Lidl and Halfords named by Government for minimum wage failures
A number of well-known British businesses, including Pizza Express, Lidl, British Airways, and Capita, have been identified by the government for failing to pay some employees the minimum wage. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) has released a list of 518 employers that underpaid nearly 60,000 workers over several years. The underpayment meant that pay for some staff fell short of the national minimum wage, or the national living wage, which is what the government calls the minimum wage for those aged over 21. Capita, a major government supplier, topped the list, owing £1.15 million to 5,543 workers. This equates to individual employees being underpaid by about £208 on average. A spokesman for Capita said it was 'inadvertent underpayments' between 2015 and 2021, due to some issues including adding 25 minutes per week for call centre staff to log in for their shifts. 'All owed monies were paid immediately, and we are sorry for any impact this had on colleagues and former colleagues at that time,' the company added. 'Our processes and systems were updated to ensure there would be no further issues; we have continued to monitor them carefully, as well as any changes to employment regulations.' Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers – amounting to about £90 on average. A spokeswoman for Pizza Express said: 'Once we were made aware of this historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018, we swiftly identified who was impacted, apologised and rectified. 'There's nothing more important to us than fairly and accurately paying our team members.' Lidl was also high on the list, having owed £286,437 to 3,423 employees. And British Airways was named for failing to pay £231,276 to 2,165 workers. A spokesman for BA said: 'Back in 2017, an audit revealed we had accidentally slightly underpaid some of our cabin crew who joined us between 2014 and 2017 during their first two months of employment. 'We apologised and issued backdated payments several years ago.' Meanwhile, smaller groups of employees were underpaid larger sums by some British companies – such as hotel chain Hilton UK which underpaid 20 members of staff an average of £946 each. Restaurant chain Prezzo, motoring and cycling retailer Halfords, and travel group Tui were also found to have been underpaying some workers over several years. All the workers left short will be repaid a combined £7.4 million, following investigations by HMRC between 2015 and 2022. The national living wage was £11.44 in the year to the end of March, and has risen to £12.21 since April. The minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds rose to £10 this year, and for those aged under 18 it rose to £7.55. Justin Madders, the minister for employment rights, said: 'There is no excuse for employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don't pay their employees what they are owed.' The Government said that not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, but those who do not pay staff correctly will be penalised. The businesses named on Thursday faced financial penalties of up to 200% of the total amount they underpaid. Lidl has been contacted for comment.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Capita, Pizza Express and Lidl named by Government for minimum wage failures
Pizza Express, Lidl, British Airways, and outsourcing firm Capita are among the British businesses named by the Government for failing to pay some of their staff the minimum wage. The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) released a list of 518 employers and businesses that underpaid workers over several years. It means pay for some staff fell short of the national minimum wage, or the national living wage, which is what the Government calls the minimum wage for those aged over 21. In total, nearly 60,000 people had been left out of pocket, the DBT said. Capita, one of the Government's biggest suppliers with major public sector contacts, was top of the list, owing £1.15 million to 5,543 workers. This meant individual employees were underpaid about £208 on average. A spokesman for Capita said it was 'inadvertent underpayments' between 2015 and 2021, due to some issues including adding 25 minutes per week for call centre staff to log in for their shifts. 'All owed monies were paid immediately, and we are sorry for any impact this had on colleagues and former colleagues at that time,' the company added. 'Our processes and systems were updated to ensure there would be no further issues; we have continued to monitor them carefully, as well as any changes to employment regulations.' Pizza Express failed to pay £760,702 to 8,470 workers – amounting to about £90 on average. A spokeswoman for Pizza Express said: 'Once we were made aware of this historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018, we swiftly identified who was impacted, apologised and rectified. 'There's nothing more important to us than fairly and accurately paying our team members.' Lidl was also high on the list, having owed £286,437 to 3,423 employees. And British Airways was named for failing to pay £231,276 to 2,165 workers. Meanwhile, smaller groups of employees were underpaid larger sums by some British companies – such as hotel chain Hilton UK which underpaid 20 members of staff an average of £946 each. Restaurant chain Prezzo, motoring and cycling retailer Halfords, and travel group Tui were also found to have been underpaying some workers over several years. All the workers left short will be repaid a combined £7.4 million, following investigations by HMRC between 2015 and 2022. The national living wage was £11.44 in the year to the end of March, and has risen to £12.21 since April. The minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds rose to £10 this year, and for those aged under 18 it rose to £7.55. Justin Madders, the minister for employment rights, said: 'There is no excuse for employers to undercut their workers, and we will continue to name companies who break the law and don't pay their employees what they are owed.' The Government said that not all minimum wage underpayments are intentional, but those who do not pay staff correctly will be penalised. The businesses named on Thursday faced financial penalties of up to 200% of the total amount they underpaid.
New York Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New York Times
Cuomo's Plan for a $20 Minimum Wage in New York City
Good morning. It's Thursday. Today we'll look at the minimum-wage increase former Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will instate if he is elected mayor of New York City. And we'll get details on a new development plan in a busy part of Brooklyn. New York City is in the throes of a once-in-a-generation economic crisis, beleaguered by inflation, income inequality and a shortage of affordable housing. To help combat it, Andrew Cuomo, the former governor of New York who is running for mayor, has announced a plan to raise the city's minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2027 if he is elected. The increase would make New York City's minimum wage one of the highest in the country, my colleague Emma G. Fitzsimmons reported. Its current minimum wage is $16.50 an hour. Many of the other Democrats in the mayoral primary have announced plans aimed at improving the lives of New York's working class. Cuomo insists he's the one who has shown he can actually do it. The former governor announced the proposal on Wednesday at a campaign rally with unions that have endorsed him. He has emphasized on the campaign trail that he has passed a policy like this before. In 2016, after pressure from labor unions, he signed legislation that raised New York State's minimum wage to $15 for most workers, putting New York at the forefront of a national push to raise wages. 'The first state to pass the highest minimum wage in the United States of America, right here,' he said earlier this year. Cuomo wasn't always on board with a city-specific wage increase. In 2014, he pushed back against a request by Mayor Bill de Blasio to increase New York City's minimum wage, arguing that allowing local governments to set such rules for themselves would create 'a chaotic situation.' On Wednesday, Cuomo said his proposal would raise wages for about 800,000 workers in the five boroughs. He is calling for the new rate to start on Jan. 1, 2027, the one-year mark of his first term if he is elected. The plan would first have to be approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers. Cuomo, a moderate, is the front-runner in the polls and has the most funding behind him, and he has shown a willingness to embrace the affordability ideas pitched by more progressive rivals. Most major unions in the city have endorsed him. But his competitors aren't letting the opportunity to question his intentions pass them by. Opponents like Zohran Mamdani, a state assemblyman who is polling in second place, contend that Cuomo is more aligned with wealthy New Yorkers and the business class than with the working class. They have also said that he didn't do enough to address affordability while he was governor — a position he resigned from in 2021 after allegations of sexual harassment that he denies. On social media earlier this year, Mamdani criticized Cuomo for cultivating a 'base of billionaires, developers and lobbyists' after some of Cuomo's powerful allies formed a super PAC to back his campaign. But the former governor seemed to swat this idea away at Wednesday's rally. 'The businesspeople are going to say, 'Oh no, you can't raise the minimum wage, because that's going to slow the economy,'' he said. 'Baloney!' The current mayor, Eric Adams, who is running as an independent in the general election in November, has also expressed skepticism about Cuomo's commitments. 'He would say anything to get elected,' he said on Tuesday. Expect a rainy morning and a cloudy afternoon with a high near 73 degrees. In the evening, cloudy conditions will continue, and the temperature will drop to the low 60s. Suspended for Solemnity of the Ascension. The latest New York news Adding 4,600 homes along a stretch of Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn On Wednesday, the City Council passed a plan to open a busy area in central Brooklyn to new residential development, my colleague Mihir Zaveri reported. The plan is expected to add 4,600 homes to the area as part of an effort to address the city's worsening housing crisis. It will also reconfigure the 21-block stretch to add a bike lane, better visibility at intersections, improvements to nearby schoolyards and parks, and job-training programs for residents — additions community leaders have been asking for. The area, a stretch along Atlantic Avenue in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been bogged down by decades-old city regulations that blocked new development. Abandoned warehouses and auto shops take up valuable space, their lots unavailable to be repurposed into housing because of zoning laws. But the area has continued to attract new residents because of its proximity to Prospect Park and the subway, contributing to gentrification and pushing rents up. Several luxury apartment buildings have been erected between unused industrial lots, angering local leaders who want to see a less haphazard plan. Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, who represents much of the area and who helped spearhead the plan, said there has 'definitely been a culture shift in the last couple of years around housing.' She added that she hoped other neighborhoods would use the plan as a blueprint. The plan reflects the Adams administration's citywide push for development. Last year, city officials passed a broader plan known as City of Yes, which could help create 80,000 additional homes over the next 15 years. The administration is also moving to rezone parts of Midtown Manhattan, Long Island City and Jamaica, Queens. Spilled the Wine Dear Diary: I love airports. No matter how crazy they can be, to me they are the ultimate in glamour. When I was growing up in Bayside, Queens, my family did not have much money. My father saved change in a giant glass jar for over a decade so that he could afford to take me and my sister to Disney World. By the time he had saved enough, I was 14 and had long since lost interest in Disney World, and my parents had been separated for a number of years. Still, Dad brought me and my sister to LaGuardia and off we went. He was so excited and once we went through those rotating doors, we were too. It was definitely a budget vacation in every regard, but I will never forget stepping into that airport and experiencing what to me was how the other half lived. Someone had accidentally broken a bottle of white wine on the floor, and the exotic aroma of Sauvignon Blanc or some other lush varietal filled the air. To me it was the smell of luxury, and I was going on an airplane. Thanks, Dad. So I will always love airports and I will always love to fly. I will also always love Florida and was thrilled to be flying there recently from, you guessed it, LaGuardia. — Pamela Primi Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. We'll see you tomorrow. — T.R. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Stefano Montali and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@ Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
News.com.au
3 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Fair Work Commission to hand down annual wage review on Tuesday
More than 2.6 million low-paid Australian workers could be set for a boost to their pay packets, with the Fair Work Commission just days away from handing down its annual wage review. The independent body is set to hand down its determination in Sydney on Tuesday, with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) pushing for a 4.5 per cent lift in the minimum wage. This would boost it to $25.18 per hour, lifting the salary for an annual full-time worker by $2143 to $49,770. The FWC's determination, which will come into affect from July 1, applies to about 2.6 million workers who are not on an existing award or agreement. The Albanese government has backed an above-inflation increase, beyond 2.4 per cent, however it has not nominated a specific number. Newly installed Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth has previously called for 'an economically responsible real wage increase' while stating that the 'setting of the minimum wage is a matter for the Fair Work Commission'. 'We do need to consider the economic conditions, but we also believe that in those economic conditions, workers deserve a real wage increase,' she said earlier this month. ACTU boss Sally McManus has recently criticised a call by the Australian Restaurant and Cafe Association to lift the minimum wage by 2 per cent, arguing the increase was below inflation and amounted to a real wage cut. The industry body represents businesses that employ about 500,000 workers and includes major hospitality players like Merivale, Fink Group and Van Haandel. 'Not only does this employer group want to dramatically cut the pay of low-paid workers, but they also have the gall in the next breath to complain that customers then aren't spending enough in their businesses,' she said. 'As far as shooting themselves in the foot, it's a good effort because few local cafe or restaurant owners can afford for ordinary Australians to take a real pay cut. 'It will be their own restaurants, cafes, pubs, hotels and bars crying out for people with enough spare cash to go and spend their money there.' Currently, the minimum wage is $24.10 per hour, which equates to $915.90 or an annual full-time salary of $47,627.06.
