Archive for the ‘National Minimum Wage’ Category
By Olivia - Monday, March 8th, 2010
Headline today ‘Prisoners being paid unemployment benefit to sit in their cells‘ is set to cause consternation amongest UK taxpayers. Apparently prisoners who are able to carry out prison duties but are unable to because the prison cannot find suitable workare being paid £2.50/week unemployment benefit. This works out at £130 per year per inmate. Unsurprisingly, the Conservatives and TaxPayer’s Allliance have heavily criticised these payments.
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By Olivia - Monday, January 4th, 2010
Happy New Year to all!
The New Year heralds the establishment by HM Revenue and Customs of a new team taking up the fight against rogue employers who refuse to pay their workers the National Minimum Wage. The snappily entitled ‘Dynamic Response Team’ will work on the highest profile and complicated cases faced by HMRC focusing on areas where employers are using migrant labout to undercut competitors by paying below the minimum wage.
Hope they live up to their team name - no pressure!
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By Olivia - Thursday, October 1st, 2009
A reminder that the national minimum wage increase kicks in today, £5.80 per hour AND employers are now banned from using tips to top up national minimum wage. BIS have published a useful Code of Practice.
Today’s excitement doesn’t stop there - an increase to the maximum weekly amount for calculating unfair dismissal and redundancy payments from £350 to £380.
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By Liam - Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Traditionally most Employment Law changes happen on 6 April and 1 October. Thursday this week sees the National Minimum wage increase and sees workers aged 22 and over being entitled to £5.80 per hour.
In addition, employers will no longer be allowed to count tips towards the national minimum wage so employees in industries where tipping is commonplace such as bar staff, waiters and waitresses will be looking forward to a pay rise from Thursday when they will be entitled to be paid at least £5.80 per hour plus tips.
For employers in the hospitality industry who currently use tips to count towards the NMW, will the change in the law result in a need to make headcount savings?
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By Olivia - Thursday, September 17th, 2009
Two week countdown until 1 October when workers over 22 will become entitled to minimum wage of £5.80 per hour. If you have any queries relating to the national minimum wage Business Link have a really useful website addressing a range of practical points.
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By Liam - Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
At present, apprentices aged 18 and below and apprentices in their first year of apprenticeship are not entitled to receive the minimum wage. Although many apprentices falling in to this category do in practice get paid above the minimum wage, this does provide the potential for exploitation and cheap labour. I know of a large luxury yacht building business who has made mass redundancies recently but continues to recruit apprentices to build and fit out their boats.
The government has asked the low pay commission to investigate and make recommendations as to whether minimum wage arrangements for apprentices should change. Watch this space for more news as to whether we may see a new band of minimum wage for apprentices or a removal of the current apprentices exception.
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By Philip - Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
I am a big fan of the USA - great place, fantastic people. It is a pleasure therefore to be able to have a reader from the USA wanting to write on our blog about an employment law issue from an American angle. Below is a piece written by Kathleen Baker setting out her views on a current topic:
The “Minimum” of Minimum Wage
For the sole leading superpower of the past 50 years, the United States has demonstrated a poor treatment of its citizens in regards to minimum wage. Only in the past two years were the laws overturned that had been put into place ten years earlier, resulting in a higher minimum wage which increased yearly, set to end in July of 2009. The drastic change in inflation rates over the past few decades went seemingly unnoticed by a multitude of politicians and business leaders, as they kept minimum wage rates well below the poverty line for so many years. It becomes interesting to look at the statistics from other countries in relation to the minimum wage rates as compared to that of the United States’.
The social welfare system of many European countries guarantees an adequate salary no matter the job industry. Many of these countries additionally offer many health benefits to the general public, which has helped pave the way to vast reforms in its overall employment system. Employees do not have to worry about the added expense of health insurance and coverage from their employer, but are free to accept any job, regardless of benefits. While it would take a great effort from politicians in the U.S. to create a universal health care system, it is almost essential for the modern era, especially with the economy the way it is. Health care costs have gone up dramatically with the advent of new technologies, and this has not directly correlated to an increase in wages, nor has it led to a better health care system in general. Minimum wage rates are the most integral part of any society because of the jobs which these wages entail as the backbone of the culture.
When comparing different Western countries’ minimum wage rates, it becomes increasingly clear that the United States has not followed the trend which these many European nations have established. Denmark stands as the leading nation in terms of minimum wage, with the annual gross income posted at 22,400 in international dollars, nearly 10,000 more than that of the United States. The increase in minimum wage has yet to make a dent in the United States employment rates when compared to other Western nations. The U.S. still lags behind when compared to the UK, Spain, The Netherlands, and many other social welfare states of Europe. It has yet to be determined what the true reason for this decreased income rates is, but it is obvious that the United States needs to catch up with the rest of their allies in terms of their employment wages.
This post was contributed by Kathleen Baker, who writes about best online universities. She welcomes your feedback at KathleenBaker3212 at gmail.com
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By Emma - Thursday, May 7th, 2009
You may recall that we mentioned at our annual update that there were plans afoot to prevent employers from using tips to count towards basic pay at the level of the national minimum wage. Yesterday it was announced that this will be coming into force. As from 1 October 2009 employers will not be able to use tips paid to employees to bring up their wages to the national minimum wage level. They will be required to pay employees the national minimum wage and then allow them tips on top.
See here for more detail.
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By Sarah - Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
There has been much talk over what Alistair Darling may have up his sleeve tomorrow. In fact you can expect some blogs on this over the next few days. The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) has called for a freeze in the national minimum wage to help fight the recession. Other ideas from the BCC to boost the economy include cutting small business corporation tax, measures to encourage short-time working over redundancy and a reversal of the planned 0.5% increase in national insurance for 2011. What is on your wish list as employers and employees?
As to what measures the Chancellor will announce tomorrow … watch this space……
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By Emma - Tuesday, January 13th, 2009
It will probably not have escaped your notice that following investigations by the BBC and the Observer newspaper it has been alleged that a Primark knitwear supplier, TNS Knitwear, based in Manchester employs illegal migrant workers and pays them £3 per hour for working up to 12 hours per day, 7 days a week. For more see here.
Oh dear. This is problematic on a number of counts if proved. Employing migrant workers is a minefield and employers face civil and criminal sanctions, including hefty fines, if they employ migrant workers unlawfully. Then there’s the minimum wage to consider - £3 per hour is almost half the current rate of £5.73 for workers aged 22 and above. And then there’s the small issue of working an 84 hour week. Wonder if they’ve been asked to sign an opt out from the Working Time Regulations…
Don’t forget we can advise you if you have any queries about employing migrant workers, or, of course, the minimum wage or Working Time Regulations.
Posted in Business Immigration, National Minimum Wage, Right to Work in the UK, Working Time Regs | No comments »
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