Temporary workers at Sports Direct, the booming retail chain
controlled by the billionaire Mike Ashley, are receiving effective hourly rates
of pay below the minimum wage, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal. Warehouse
staff at the group, which is controlled by Britain’s 22nd richest man, are
required to go through searches at the end of each shift, for which their time
is unpaid, while they also suffer harsh deductions from their wage packets for
clocking in for a shift just one minute late.
The practices contribute to many staff being paid an
effective rate of about £6.50 an hour against the statutory rate of £6.70 –
potentially saving the FTSE 100 firm millions of pounds a year at the expense
of some of the poorest workers in the UK.
At the retailer’s warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire more than 80% of staff are on zero hours contracts. Local primary
schoolteachers have told the Guardian that pupils can remain in school while
ill – and return home to empty houses – as parents working at Sports Direct are
too frightened to take time off work. Workers are even banned from wearing rival brand clothes,
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