SEVERAL Scottish businesses, from car dealerships to airlines, have been named for failing to pay minimum wage to their lowest-paid workers. 

A list of more than 200 employers across the UK have been named by the government today for failing to pay their workers a total of almost £5million in a clear breach of National Minimum Wage (NMW) law, leaving around 63,000 workers out of pocket. 

Scottish companies being named today range from regional airlines to sole traders, in a clear message from the government that no employer is exempt from paying their workers the statutory minimum wage. 

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Businesses named include Loganair Limited, Arnold Clark Automobiles Limited, OMI Facilities Limited, OMI Management Ltd, and Portal Security Ltd.

The workers were underpaid either by employers deducting pay from their workers' wages, employers failing to pay workers correctly for their working time, or employers paying the incorrect apprenticeship rate and not all instances of underpayments were intentional. 

All the companies listed have since paid back what they owe to their staff and have also faced financial penalties. 

The investigations by HMRC concluded between 2017 and 2019. 

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Kevin Hollinrake, minister for Enterprise, Markets and Small Business, said: "Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff.

"Most businesses do the right thing and look after their employees, but we're sending a clear message to the minority who ignore the law: pay your staff properly or you'll face the consequences."

Malcolm Offord, UK Government Minister for Scotland, said: "The minimum wage is an important guarantee for workers and this Government is upholding that standard by calling out businesses - regardless of their size - who fail to pay up.

"We will not see people short-changed for their hard work.

"By naming the firms, we are underlining the fact that paying the national minimum wage is not optional - it's a legal requirement."

Bryan Sanderson, Chair of the Low Pay Commission, said: "The minimum wage acts as a guarantee to ensure all workers without exception receive a decent minimum standard of pay.

"Where employers break the law, they not only do a disservice to their staff but also undermine fair competition between businesses.

"Regular naming rounds should be a useful tool in raising awareness of underpayment and helping to protect minimum wage workers."

A spokesperson for Loganair explained that an optional salary sacrifice programme which operated more than four years ago was the reason they were included in this list.

The spokesperson said: “Loganair’s inclusion in this list relates exclusively to an optional salary sacrifice programme operated more than four years ago which enabled employees to voluntarily increase their pension contributions or to purchase electric vehicles.

“In providing its employees with options as to how to spend their own income, the choices made by a small number of staff led to their take-home pay falling below the NMW at the time.

“This issue was rectified by Loganair and closed by HMRC in March 2019. The Department for Business & Trade, which administers the National Minimum Wage scheme, fully accepts this issue was raised and resolved more than four years ago so it is with great disappointment to see our inclusion in today’s list so long after the event.”