Wagamama and Marriott among companies fined for failing to pay minimum wage

Wagamama and TGI Friday's have been named and shamed by the government alongside hotel giants, charities and football clubs for failing to pay workers the national minimum wage.

The high street restaurants are among 179 companies fined a total of £1.3 million for underpaying 9,200 employees.

Other offenders include Marriott, Stoke City Football Club, Birmingham City Football Club and rugby clubs St Helens and London Irish.

Charity the National Society For Epilepsy was also named on the list which was topped by Wagamama who failed to pay £133,212 to 2,630 workers - the most of any of the companies identified.

TGI Friday's shortchanged 2,302 of its staff by £59,348 while Marriott failed to pay £71,723 to 279 workers, according to figures released by the Business Department.

TGI Friday's were one of the main offenders short changing 2,302 of its staff . Credit: PA

Failing to pay workers for travelling between jobs, not paying overtime, and deducting money for uniforms were some of the reasons for the underpayments.

Business minister Andrew Griffiths said: "There are no excuses for shortchanging workers.

"This is an absolute red line for this government and employers who cross it will get caught - not only are they forced to pay back every penny but they are also fined up to 200% of wages owed.

"Today's naming round serves as a sharp reminder to employers to get their house in order ahead of minimum wage rate rises on April 1."

On that date, the National Living Wage will go up from £7.50 to £7.83 per hour.

A TGI Fridays spokesperson said: "To confirm, TGI Fridays does pay the National Minimum Wage hourly rate.

"The total figure quoted in today's HMRC list relates to reimbursing team members a shoe allowance.

"This is a historic payment which was paid last year, and we have since reimbursed team members for the purchase of their black uniform shoes."

Birmingham City football club were named for underpaying employees. Credit: PA

A Stoke City spokesman said: "Once this matter was brought to our attention we moved swiftly to repay the money to the members of staff concerned.

"The issue arose from our now historical practice of allowing staff to pay for tickets and retail merchandise voluntarily purchased from the club via deduction from their monthly salaries, for which the employees gave written permission for deductions to be made."

A spokesman for Marriott said the company "is committed to compliance with the national minimum wage", adding: "When an error was identified by a routine HMRC audit in 2015, we cooperated fully with HMRC and promptly reimbursed all those affected.

"We apologise to all our associates impacted by this error and have taken steps to ensure it cannot happen again."

Wagamama responded by saying that it has always paid minimum wage and makes sure that staff receive 100% of their tips.

"This was an inadvertent misunderstanding of how the minimum wage regulations apply to uniforms and as soon as we were made aware of this in 2016 we acted immediately to correct the position," it said.

The full list of employers named for National Minimum Wage underpayment

  • Wagamama Limited

  • Marriott Hotels Limited

  • Thursday (UK) Limited (TFI Fridays)

  • National Society For Epilepsy

  • Wright Leisure Limited

  • Ms Sarah Jane Bowman and Ms Annabel Garland Farnell-Watson

  • Seashells Limited

  • Bridge End House Nursery Limited

  • Globebrow Limited

  • Moy Park Limited

  • Daniele Petteno Ltd

  • Beautiful Spots Limited

  • Threshold Housing Project Limited

  • Heather Park Community Services Limited

  • 1st Pizza Direct Limited

  • 4Fashions Ltd

  • Wilson's Country Limited

  • Lickfold Inn Limited

  • North London Asian Care

  • Witham Hand Car Wash Ltd

  • Karen Millen Fashions Limited

  • Mr Muhammad Adnan Safdar and Mrs Khadija Javaid

  • Mr Akbor Miah

  • Albury Estate Fisheries (2008) Limited

  • Atkins Hotels Limited

  • Adactus Housing Group Limited

  • Meejana Limited

  • Summer Lodge Management Limited

  • Davies Security Limited

  • Oakfield Caravan Park Limited

  • Pentlow Community Care Limited

  • Birmingham City Football Club plc

  • St Helens Rugby Football Club Limited

  • Mr David Wilson, Mrs Doreen Wilson and Mr Darren Wilson

  • Smart Hand Car Wash Plymouth Ltd

  • A1 Care Services Limited

  • Jeta Car Wash Ltd

  • Cost Effective Catering Limited

  • SB Patel Ltd

  • Plymouth Car Wash Ltd

  • Handy Andy Car Wash Ponteland Limited

  • Mr Lee Harris and Mr David Wilson

  • Home Life Carers Limited

  • Simonstone Ltd

  • SSL Foodservice Ltd

Karen Millen were fined for failing to pay staff minimum wage. Credit: PA

  • A2 Car Wash Limited

  • Pink Innovations Ltd

  • The Blue Bicycle (York) Limited

  • The Care Bureau Limited

  • Box & Charnock Limited

  • Red Arrow Fulfilment Limited

  • Foxlowe Trading Company Limited

  • Hideaway Day Nursery Limited

  • Headromance Ltd

  • QCS Contract Cleaning Ltd

  • Mr Nigel Birch and Mrs Sarah Shotton

  • Trinity Pre-School

  • Mr Wayne Gray and Mrs Margaret Gray

  • Busy Bee Montessori Nursery School Limited

  • SBDP1 Limited

  • Tayto Group Limited

  • Impact Call Centre Limited

  • 4th Generation (NW) Limited

  • A Johnson Construction Limited

  • Thurlestone Estates Limited

  • Lakemere Green Limited

  • Universal United Commerce Limited

  • Patisserie Patchi Limited

  • Mr Mahendra Davda

  • Stef and Stan Ltd

  • I Can Day Nurseries Limited

  • Holbrook Academy

  • Nath Stores Limited

  • Vickers Construction Limited

  • Manor House Hotel (Oakehampton) Limited

  • Extra Care for Elderly People Limited

  • Rootcroft Limited

  • Little Footprints Nursery Limited

  • Marcandi Limited

  • Clean as a Whistle Super Hand Car Wash Ltd

  • Lyndhurst School

  • Ms Lorna O'Donnell

  • Twinkles (Leeds) Limited

  • Ritcin Limited

  • Cedar Tree Care Home Ltd

  • Dan Skelton Racing Limited

  • Fast Car wash Ltd

  • G.Purchase Construction Limited

  • Dr Baber Ghafoor and Dr S A Abbasi

  • Feather and Black

  • ADI Hand Car Wash Ltd

  • Independent Community Care Management Limited

  • Crystal Knitwear Limited

  • Georgie Porgy's Pre-School Ltd

  • Stoke City Football Club Limited

  • Parkers Mini Buses (Ellesmere Port) Limited

  • Fosters Bakery (Staincross) Limited

  • James Ritchie Clocks (established 1809) Ltd

  • Poppies WL & S Limited

  • Rudan Knightsbridge Limited

  • Achieving Excellence UK Ltd

  • Focus Food Services Limited

Stoke City said the club had repaid the money to the members of staff concerned. Credit: PA

  • Mr Peter Watts

  • Days Poole Limited

  • Europa Foods Distribution Limited

  • Grade House Limited

  • Alison Margaret Smith

  • Mrs Angela Fox

  • Redhill Service Centre Limited

  • Shoe Zone Retail Limited

  • Arcadis Consulting (UK) Limited

  • RPP Wood Green Ltd

  • Mrs Lisa Chakir

  • Mrs Jacqueline Young

  • Mr George Hanson and Mr James Hanson

  • Express Vision (UK) Ltd

  • Sanjay Foods (UK) Limited

  • Indulge Me Limited

  • Mr Christopher James Hill

  • Bush House Pembroke Limited

  • Miss Zoe MacDonald

  • VF Cash & Carry Limited

  • MRN Recruitment Limited

  • Gloss Hairdressing Limited

  • Rainbow Brite Cleaning Services Limited

  • The Urban Chocolatier Limited

  • Edworthy Computing Limited

  • Mumtaz Leeds Limited

  • East Lancashire Services Limited

  • Plaistow Broadway Filling Stations Limited

  • NTCDucting.com Limited

  • Mr Ali Qerimi

  • Moulsham Residential Home (Chelmsford) Limited

  • Blaxills Fitted Furniture Limited

  • Miss Tracey Henry

  • Cragwood International Limited

  • Step Up Security Services Ltd

  • Mr Shahzad Iqbal Kiyani

  • D K Leisure Ltd

  • Clear-View Fife Limited

Shoe Zone Credit: PA

  • Capital (Hair and Beauty) Limited

  • Saramago Ltd

  • McClarance Services Limited

  • Entier Limited

  • DSM N.E. Ltd

  • Darren Dickie

  • Biddall Leisure Limited

  • Legal Square Ltd

  • Neath Road Car Sales & Car Wash Ltd

  • Mr Shakil Shah

  • Jackson Gray Limited

  • Mrs Elaine Phillips and Mr Mitchell Phillips

  • Maxine Adams

  • 4TheHouse Limited

  • Ari Pizza Ltd

  • Hales Group Limited

  • Mariner Travel Limited

  • P&P Duff (Scotland) Limited

  • Grand Union Company Limited

  • Mr Ahmed Faalzada

  • Ducati Manchester Limited

  • Ms Fiona Latham

  • Tsang's Kitchen Ltd

  • Mr Nicholas Tsaroullas, Mr John Yiamokis Tsaroullas and Mrs Kyriacou Tsaroullas

  • GAF Foods Limited

  • Tanna's Limited

  • P&A Food Management Services Limited

  • Mr Tino Cernera

  • Mrs Carole Bentley

  • Yeovil Football & Athletic Club (The)

  • Casa Bianco Limited

  • Ms Karly Skerman and Mr Ray Booth

  • Orchard Care (South West) Limited

  • Always Cleaning Limited

  • Mr Hamid Noori

  • London Irish Scottish Richmond Limited

  • Mr Sean Hornby

  • SM News Limited

  • Riverside Pizza Company Limited