// Frasers Group has been found to be paying warehouse staff below minimum wage
// Staff were not being paid for their half-hour breaks
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has reportedly been accused of paying warehouse workers below minimum wage for a second time.
Warehouse staff supplying the group’s Sports Direct, Flannels, Jack Wills and USC fascias were found to have not been paid for half-hour breaks, The Guardian reported.
In addition, staff were reportedly not able to leave the premises during their breaks.
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The Guardian investigation came almost five years after the last time Frasers Group was found to be breaching minimum wage law, which resulted in workers receiving about £1 million in back pay.
Moreover, MPs found that Sports Direct had treated “workers as commodities rather than as human beings” which resulted in the retailer launching a review of its working practices.
A Guardian reporter went undercover to one of Frasers Group’s warehouses in late June and early July and found that staff had unpaid breaks and were allegedly being paid £8.20 an hour – compared to the legal minimum of £8.72.
Frasers Group has denied the allegations. It said the Guardian investigation was founded on “a false premise”.
It also denied the accusation that staff were not permitted to leave warehouses during breaks and said the law did not require it to pay staff for breaks.
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