Lidl, Halfords and The Range ordered to pay short-changed staff

Lidl has been forced to pay a six-figure sum to thousands of its employees whose salaries fell below the national minimum wage.

The supermarket chain joins Halfords, The Range owner CDS Superstores and over 500 other companies to be called out by the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) for short-changing staff between 2015 and 2022.

The discounter was found to have had underpaid 3,423 of its workers by a total of £286,437.18, which has since been repaid.

DBT’s report also found that Halfords had failed to pay 4,341 of workers in its retail division a total of £140,829.79 and owed a collective sum of £38,470.94 to 760 employees working in its Autocentres business.

A spokesperson for Halfords said: “The rates that we pay our colleagues are competitive and are at or above the minimum wage. However, in 2021 we found some historical work-related costs that should have been met by us as the employer rather than our colleagues.

“We moved quickly to identify those impacted in order to make the necessary payments. All of the costs involved are now met by the company”.

Meanwhile, The Range and Wilko owner CDS was found to have underpaid 1,648 of its employees by a total of £89,158.47.

Lidl have been contacted for comment. CDS declined to comment.

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