A top Scottish hotel group said it is “disappointed” after being “named and shamed” in a list of companies that had underpaid workers.
Crieff Hydro was listed among 49 Scottish employers – and almost 500 across the UK – which were fined for not paying minimum wage rates. It failed to pay £33,993.50 owed to 131 members of staff.
However, the hotel group said the shortfall had been a result of “contractually agreed deductions” dating back more than 10 years, and that the issue had been resolved in 2017.
The Crieff Hydro group includes Murraypark Hotel, Peebles Hydro, The Park in Peebles, the Ballachulish Hotel and the Isles of Glencoe Hotel and Leisure Centre. It also owns the 1881 Gin School & Distillery.
A spokesperson for the Crieff Hydro Hotel said the company had “certainly never paid below the appropriate hourly rate”, adding that the shortfall dates back to 2014 and was the result of pay period “technicalities” and “contractually agreed deductions”.
When it became aware of the issue in 2017, the firm “took immediate action” to quickly repay staff as soon as shortfalls were confirmed.
The spokesperson added: “It’s well known that many other famous names in hospitality and other sectors have been affected and singled out in this same disappointing way.”
The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) issued fines of more than £10m across the UK and said 42,000 workers were repaid more than £6m.
Scottish Gas’s parent company Centrica and Holland & Barrett are among nearly 500 named by the department.
Top of the list was Euro Garages, known as EG Group, short-changing 3,317 of its workers by around £824,000 between 2018 and 2023.
The company was co-founded by billionaire brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa who have since stepped back from leading the firm.
In a statement, an EG Group spokesperson said: “These historic payroll issues that took place between 2015 and 2019 have been fully rectified. All affected employees were subsequently reimbursed in full in agreement with HMRC.”
Centrica failed to pay £167,815 to 356 workers. A spokesperson for the company said it supported fair pay and pointed to technical faults in its payroll system between 2015 and 2019.
“This issue relates to a small number of historic technical errors which was put right as soon as it was identified.”
High Street retailer Holland & Barrett failed to pay more than £153,000 to 2,551 workers. In a statement, the company said past issues with minimum wage payments, between 2015 and 2021, had since been fixed in 2022.
“This was not a case of deliberate underpayment,” said a spokesperson.
Employers in Scotland found to have breached employment law received fines of £400,000. Among them was Stena Line PTE which failed to pay £20,585.44 to 11 workers.
Kirsty McNeill, Scotland Office minister said: “Every Scottish worker deserves the pay they are entitled to. Our government is delivering real change for working people – boosting the minimum wage for 200,000 of Scotland’s lowest-paid workers and taking action against employers who break the rules.
“We are bringing in the biggest upgrade to workers rights in a generation and we will not tolerate employers who short-change their staff.”
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