Scottish firms named and shamed over minimum wage

A DOZEN Scottish employers have been named and shamed for failing to pay workers the minimum wage.

Monsoon Accessorize Ltd was the worst UK offender. Picture: PA

They are on a list of more than 115 companies identified by the UK government after investigations by HM Revenue & Customs.

Scottish offenders include a garage, a taxi business and five hairdressers.

Clothes firm Monsoon Accessorize Ltd was the worst UK offender, owing £104,000 to 1,400 workers, whilst in Scotland it was Village Garage Engineers Ltd, trading as Village Garage in Plean, near Stirling, which owed £9,150 to three workers. Other offenders include Ian Balfour and Caroline Balfour, trading as Kirkcaldy-based A E Taxis, who failed to pay more than £4,750 to three workers; Margaret Jankowitz, trading as The Beeches Hair Studio in Clydebank, who owed £3,300 to three workers; while Paterson SA Hairdressing in Edinburgh failed to pay £3,200 to 15 workers.

More than 400 UK employers have now been shamed since ministers launched the scheme two years ago, with total arrears of £1.1 million and penalties of over £500,000.

UK business minister Nick Boles said employers that failed to pay the minimum wage “hurt the living standards of the lowest-paid and their families”.

He pledged that the new national living wage of £7.20 an hour for over 25-year-olds from next April will be enforced “equally robustly” as the minimum wage, currently £6.70.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Today’s list of offenders is only the tip of the iceberg. Many more employers are getting away with illegal underpayment.”

Other Scottish businesses named included: C & R Tyres Ltd, Kelso, who failed to pay £2,261 to three workers; SCC Leisure Ltd, trading as Bar Soba, Glasgow, who failed to pay £2,015 to one worker and Norma Clark Hair & Beauty Ltd, Glasgow, which owed £1,391 to one worker.

Strathmore Hotels Ltd, trading as Royal Hotel, Argyll, and Salutation Hotel, Perth, failed to pay £609 to two workers; U & T Ltd, trading as The Sweet Spot, Hamilton, neglected to pay £482 to two workers; Sam Clackmannan (Scotland) Ltd, trading as Samantha Blues Hairdressing, Clackmannan, owed £319 to one worker; Cocouk Ltd, trading as Le Dermex, Edinburgh, owed £305 to one worker, and Mrs Mary Forbes, trading as Mary Forbes Hairdressing, Dundee, owed £106 to one worker.