MP’s plea for enforcement of wage law

CITY Labour MP Mark Lazarowicz has called for stronger enforcement of the national minimum wage.

In a debate at Westminster, he highlighted the case of a woman in his Edinburgh North and Leith constituency who was victimised after complaining to the authorities that she was being paid below the legal minimum.

He said the owner of the restaurant where she had been working spread the word that she was a troublemaker and she had difficulty getting a new job.

She was owed £6000 in back pay because of the low wage she had received, but because of the heavy workload on the minimum wage enforcement unit she had still received nothing two years later.

The MP said: “Estimates suggest that at least 1.3 million people have benefited from the national minimum wage, but to reap the full benefits it must be enforced.”