Three Tayside businesses are being “named and shamed” by the UK Government for failing to pay the minimum wage.
A car garage, beauty salon and nursery in Tayside are among 208 business named on the list which follows HMRC investigations.
The Government said that together the firms failed to pay their workers £1.2 million in a “clear breach” of National Minimum Wage law, leaving around 12,000 workers out of pocket.
The list includes:
- C.P. Garage Services (Dundee) Limited, Dundee
- M&R Childcare Services Ltd, trading as First Steps Nursery, Montrose
- Miss Zoe Linton, trading as The Green Room, Dundee
‘I leave it to my accountant’
Based at Baluniefield Industrial Estate in Dundee, CP Garage Services has operated since 1993. It underpaid one worker £592 in 2018.
Owner Euan Colbron said the minimum wage breach was “news to him”.
He said: “I’m completely unaware of it. I leave it to my accountant.
“They notify me of what’s required to pay and that gets paid whether it’s wages or tax bills. I let them handle that.”
M&R Childcare Services in Montrose operated a nursery in John Street, Montrose. The nursery closed in 2019 and the company was dissolved in August 2020.
It failed to pay £1,806 to 20 workers between 2015 and 2018.
Dundee’s The Green Room, a beauty salon, also no longer operates. It failed to pay £507 to three workers between 2016 and 2018. Miss Linton did not respond to requests to comment.
HMRC minimum wage investigations
The Government said it will take robust enforcement action against employers who do not pay their staff correctly.
The businesses have paid what they owe to staff and also face significant financial penalties of up to 200% of the outstanding amount.
Minister for Labour Markets Paul Scully said: “We want workers to know that we’re on their side.
“Today’s 208 businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working employees, regardless of whether it was intentional or not.”
