There are two developments worth flagging up in this week’s News in Brief - a new scheme for naming and shaming employers not paying the minimum wage; and confirmation that the default retirement age will be abolished in October.
National Minimum Wage
Following its announcement last year of a “naming and shaming” scheme for employers flouting the National Minimum Wage (NMW), the government has announced details of the new policy which came into force on 1 January.
The “National Minimum Wage - policy on HM Revenue & Customs enforcement, prosecutions and naming employers who flout National Minimum Wage law” gives the government powers to issue a press release containing the names of any employer disregarding the law.
HMRC will refer cases to the government under the naming scheme when they have evidence that :
the employer knowingly or deliberately failed to comply with their NMW obligations
the employer has previously received advice about the steps they need to take and has not taken them
the employer has failed to take adequate steps to keep or preserve NMW records
the employer has delayed or obstructed an NMW compliance officer in the performance of their duties; refused or neglected to answer questions or to provide information or produce documents at the request of an NMW compliance officer
the employer refused or neglected to pay arrears of the NMW to workers following HMRC intervention
To download the policy document, go to: http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/n/11-529-national-minimum-wage-enforcement-prosecutions
Default retirement age
The current default retirement age (DRA) of 65 is to be phased out between 6 April and 1 October 2011, after which date employers can no longer use it to compulsorily retire employees.
After 6 April, employers will not be able to issue any more compulsory retirement notifications.
Between 6 April and 1 October, only people who were notified before 6 April, and whose retirement date is before 1 October can be compulsorily retired using the DRA.
Although the Government is removing the DRA, it will still be possible for individual employers to operate a compulsory retirement age, provided that they can objectively justify it. Examples could include air traffic controllers and police officers.