A recruitment agency supplying catering and cleaning workers was yesterday ordered to pay back a total of over £1,380.40 in withheld wages at Leicester Magistrates’ Court following a prosecution by the Government’s Employment Agency Standards (EAS) inspectorate.
Zoe Helen Evans, Director of Isis Management Consultancy Limited, and the company, was required to pay £2,030.00 in fines and costs after prosecution for withholding pay from seven workers. She was also banned from being a Director or Company Secretary of any limited company for a period of one year.
Ms Evans, who traded under the name of Kensington Mayfair in Loughborough, either failed to make full payment to the workers or failed to pay them at all. Some of the workers were supplied as catering or hospitality staff on short-term bookings and most were students at Loughborough University looking for part-time work.
EAS inspectors issued numerous warnings to the Directors regarding their failure to pay the workers but they ignored the requirements of the law and prosecution was pursued.
Employment Relations Minister, Norman Lamb, said:
“This verdict sends out a clear message that we will continue to take action against rogue recruiters who don’t clean up their act. I am pleased to say that most agencies play fairly. It’s only the minority who continue to ignore their responsibilities – but they undermine the system for the rest and we will take action against them.”