Claimant v Commissioner for Revenue and Customs — 2022

The appeal concerned an HMRC notice of underpayment of the National Minimum Wage issued on 20 October 2020 in respect of two former interns, EOG and MD, together with a related penalty. The tribunal heard evidence from the appellant's director, two former interns and HMRC's compliance officer, and found that the company traded through its .Cent arm as part of its business. It accepted that the interns were engaged verbally for fixed days and hours, with no right to send substitutes.

Applying section 1, section 19, section 28 and section 54(3) of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998, together with regulations 51 to 54 of the National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015, the tribunal found that the complainants were workers, that they were doing work during the relevant pay reference period, and that they did not fall within any exemption. It accepted the hours recorded by HMRC, found that no payments had been made, and held that the appellant had not rebutted the presumption of entitlement to the national minimum wage.

The tribunal also found that the amounts in the notice were correctly calculated and that the penalty had been properly applied. The appeal against the Notice of Underpayment of the National Minimum Wage and related penalty was therefore dismissed. The notice figures recorded in the judgment were £2,199.88 for MD, £2,920.51 for EOG and a penalty of £9,207.62, making a total of £14,328.01.