Revealed: UK fast fashion staff deprived of pay by employment agency

Employment agency that supplies warehouse workers to fashion and retail brands repeatedly underpays staff and denies them paid time off , according to an Observer survey.

Workers hired on zero-hour contracts to help fulfill orders for PrettyLittleThing, its parent company Boohoo, The Very Group, Sainsbury's and Currys are among those claiming to have had their wages withheld by Mach Recruitment.

In an employment tribunal judgment issued in May 2022 - one of the six so far this year - Mach was ordered to pay £1,184 to a worker who worked 12 shifts in a warehouse for The Very Group in 2021 but never received his wages. In June 2022, the agency was ordered to pay £138 for making unauthorized deductions from a worker's pay, including failing to pay his leave. In July he was ordered to pay £430 to a worker who claimed she had not been paid for her shifts. In a separate case last June, Mach was ordered to pay a worker £12,000 for unfair dismissal, £3,960 for unpaid bonuses and £1,064 for unpaid leave, court records show. p>

In total, the agency has been brought before 12 labor courts over the past two years, which have ordered it to pay money to workers, including 10 relating to unpaid wages, unauthorized payroll deductions, or failure to provide vacation pay.

Mach did not engage in business and did not not responded to calls and emails from the court department, according to the judgments. In a statement over the weekend, the company blamed the communication and compensation issues on Covid-19, adding that the allegations were unfounded and that it contested the decisions.< /p>

In addition to reviewing the cases that have gone to court, the Observer spoke to eight former Mach workers who were in the company between 2020 and 2022 and analyzed evidence including payslips, contracts, text messages and emails. correspondence suggesting that the practice of underpayment is widespread.