Home Bargains has been exposed by the government for paying its staff less than the national living wage to is staff.
The Liverpool-based discount retailer will now be forced to backpay staff arrears to match, and could face fines of up to £20,000 per worker.
Two hundred and thirty-nine companies were named and shamed in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s list, but Home Bargains was second from the top, underpaying 6743 workers a total of £272,228.44, equaling around £41.37 per staff member.
Though the government has been publishing lists of companies failing to pay the minimum wage since 2013, the latest highlighted more underpaid workers than any previous list amounting to record fined totally £1.97 million.
Only Card Factory underpaid more staff than Home Bargains, which currently trades from 505 shops across the UK, with plans to open 50 more this year.
“Our priority is making sure workers know their rights and are getting the pay they worked so hard for,” business minister Andrew Griffiths said.
“Employers who don’t do the right thing face fines as well as being hit with a bill for back pay.”
Low pay commission chairman Bryan Sanderson added: “It is crucial that employers understand their responsibilities and workers know their rights around the minimum wage.
“That is why active enforcement and effective communication from the government is so important.”
