We are delighted that at the Employment Tribunal held on Monday 4th February the Judge ruled in favour of Middlesbrough Football Club's (MFC) appeal against their National Minimum Wage (NMW) Notice of Underpayment.
We have been supporting our client MFC with their ongoing NMW review by HMRC for a number of years and it was clear that Parliament's intent was never to catch circumstances like these where an employer was simply responding to requests from a small number of employees to pay for their family's MFC season tickets over a number of weeks.
The NMW legislation is complex and especially those parts that relate to deductions from pay. We are pleased that this complexity is being recognised by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) which included this point in the consultation that it issued prior to Christmas and to which we will be responding.
In light of this recent ruling and HMRC NMW enforcement activity we would encourage all employers to review the deductions that they take (often at their employees' request) and ensure that they are not generating any risks of underpaying NMW, or if they are that they understand the potential arguments that can be used.
If you would like any more information on NMW and how to go about dealing with a review by HMRC or undertaking a proactive healthcheck please do contact John Harding or Julie Moore or any member of the PwC Reward & Employment Team.
