Five Guys and Whitbread named for paying below minimum wage

Five Guys and Premier Inn owner Whitbread have been “named and shamed” for failing to pay some of their employees the minimum wage.

The Department for Business & Trade has released a list of the 658 businesses that paid employees below the minimum wage threshold. The list businesses, which was topped by DIY retailer B&Q, have since paid a cumulative £4m to more than 27,000 workers following “robust” enforcement action.

The government said it planned to publish lists of operators paying below the minimum wage more regularly to ensure errors were stamped out as quickly as possible.

The minister for the future of work Kate Dearden said: “Underpaying your staff is illegal, and we will not let workers foot the bill for their boss failing to follow the rules.”

Five Guys was on the list after underpaying nearly 3,700 workers a total of £54,642. The business said it had paid all current and former staff who were impacted.

“Following an HMRC review, technical differences in how payroll regulations were applied affected our national minimum wage calculations, resulting in a shortfall of approximately £55,000 across a payroll of more than £330m,” Five Guys said.

Premier Inn owner Whitbread failed to pay 342 employees a total of £4,193. The company blamed the shortfall on an administrative error, which it said has now been rectified.