Firms who failed to pay minimum wage named
GoogleEleven companies in north-east England failed to pay workers the minimum wage, the government has said.
Four of the firms - Hays Travel in Sunderland, HC-One Limited in Darlington and Vocare Limited and the Station Hotel in Newcastle - owed staff more than £10,000.
Technical and administrative issues have been blamed for many of the underpayments which in some instances occurred under previous owners.
The government said nearly 400 employers across the UK had been hit with £12.6m in penalties for similar failures. Employment Rights Minister Kate Dearden warned companies to check their payroll to ensure they "don't get caught out".
Hays Travel, which underpaid 2,400 workers over £364,000 between March 2017 and February 2020 said it happened because of a technical issue in 2019.
The firm said the problem was rectified "as soon as we became aware of it".
"Everyone affected received the money they were owed," a spokesperson said.
'Previous practices'
According to the government data, HC-One Limited in Darlington owed £45,336.99 to 2,587 workers between November and December 2017.
The company said the underpayment happened while another provider was in charge.
"As part of the acquisition we also acquired the liability for that provider's previous practices which are not reflective of our own," a spokesperson said.
They added the firm had invested more than £110m into pay and conditions over the past four years, equating to a 40% pay rise for lowest paid staff in that time and resulting in nearly 90% of workers earning the real living wage or above.
In Newcastle, 621 workers at Vocare Limited were underpaid £73,744.00 between June 2018 and December 2021.
At the time it was part of Totally Plc which was subsequently acquired by the PHL Group last year.
PHL was approached for comment.
The Station Hotel, also in Newcastle, failed to pay £14,391.72 to 90 workers between July 2017 and January 2023, the government said.
A spokesperson for the hotel said: "We believed in good faith we were paying the correct hourly rate, but as soon as we were made aware of a technicality regarding the purchase of uniforms we ensured all affected colleagues were reimbursed."
