A total of 139 companies failed to pay 6.7 million pounds ($ 9.1 million) to thousands of workers, the government said on Thursday. The cases were investigated between 2016 and 2018.
The current minimum wage in the UK is £ 8.72 ($ 11.91) for workers over the age of 25.
The supermarket chain said it was “extremely disappointed and surprised to be included in this list”, saying it had identified its failure to pay the minimum wage in 2017 and informed the government at the time.
“In 2017, we identified a technical problem that meant that some colleagues’ pay fell by mistake below the National Minimum Wage. We are very sorry that this happened and we proactively reported the problem,” Tesco said in a statement to CNN Business.
“All our colleagues were reimbursed in full and we immediately changed our policies to prevent this. In most cases, the reimbursement was GBP 10 or less,” she added.
Pizza Hut has been identified as not paying nearly £ 846,000 to 10,980 workers. CNN Business contacted the fast food chain for comment.
Superdrug, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the UK, was also included in the list, accused of not paying 2,222 workers more than 15,000 pounds ($ 20,475).
Superdrug said in a statement to CNN Business that the error occurred in 2018. “As soon as we were notified, we quickly reimbursed both current employees and those who left, working with HMRC [Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs] to make sure they were fully compensated, “Superdrug said, adding that his policy had changed since then.
“Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it is the law,” British Business Minister Paul Scully said in a statement. “It is never acceptable for an employer to change workers at short notice, but it is especially disappointing to see huge family names that should know better on this list.”