£4k damages after cleaning company fails to pay minimum wage

Thursday 10 November 2022

A cleaning company has been ordered to pay a former employee more than £4,000 in compensation after failing to pay her the minimum wage – and sometimes not paying her at all.

For 17 weeks in 2022, Janice Wilson was paid just £8.12 per hour by Many Hands, £1.10 below the minimum wage of £9.22, while for 10 weeks she received no pay at all from the business.

She also claimed that she had only received £8.12 per hour for 1,600 hours worked in 2020 and 1,600 hours in 2021, when the minimum wage was actually £8.32. Ms Wilson also said that she was owed three days of holiday pay.

In October, the Employment and Discrimination Tribunal ordered that Many Hands should pay Ms Wilson £640 for the minimum wage shortfall and £177 in damages for the holiday pay claim.

Due to an administrative issue, the 2022 claims were not considered until last week.

Handing down their judgment this week, the Tribunal, presided by Deputy Chair Hilary Westmacott, directed that a further £3,548.80 be paid to her - £2,950 in damages for the nearly three months of no pay, and £598.40 for the deductions from the minimum wage.

While Ms Wilson's pay claims were upheld, the Tribunal threw out her claims that she had been unfairly dismissed and that Many Hands had failed to provide pay slips or written terms of employment to her.