THE government has awarded New Year honours to two employers in Scotland who have been “named and shamed” for paying their workers less than the statutory minimum wage.

Alan and Linda Stewart run the Rainbow Room chain of 12 hairdressing salons in Glasgow and the west of Scotland.

In an annual report on employers who underpay workers, revenue and customs officers say that they underpaid six workers by £851.70 between 2016 and 2018.

Despite their ill-treatment of their employees they have been made Officers of the British Empire (OBE) in the Tories’ New Year’s Honours List. 

The Westminster government’s Business Minister Paul Scully said naming employers for failing to pay the minimum wage should be a “wake-up call” to rogue bosses.

He did not mention the matter of awarding honours to employers who underpay their workers.

Mr Scully said: “Paying the minimum wage is not optional, it is the law. It is never acceptable for any employer to short-change their workers.

“This should serve as a wake-up call to named employers and a reminder to everyone of the importance of paying workers what they are legally entitled to.

“Make no mistake, those who fail to follow minimum wage rules will be caught out and made to pay up.”

Other employers in Scotland “named and shamed” for underpaying workers (though not named in the New Year Honours List) include Pizza Hut, St Johnstone Football Club, WKW Partnership trading as Cairngorm Hotel, haulage firm Gilmour Brothers in South Lanarkshire, D and D Decorators Limited, East Ayrshire, and Oakminster Healthcare Limited, which runs Cumbrae House Care Home in Glasgow.