Employer falls foul of minimum wage law

The owner of two practices in Liverpool who paid his staff at rates up to 40 per cent less than they were entitled to has become the first employer in the North West to be successfully prosecuted for national minimum wage (NMW) offences and been fined £3,696.

The hearing at Manchester Magistrates Court on June 23 was told that Benjamin Gains provided workers at BG Optical with annual contacts based on salaries that appeared to be close to the minimum wage rates but contained a section on paid meal breaks. The case arose when staff at his opticians in Walton and Anfield complained, according to the Liverpool Echo, June 24.