“Sports Direct may be paying less than minimum wage, investigations shows”, 23 July 2020

Warehouse workers at Sports Direct … appear to be receiving pay below the national minimum wage, according to … a new Guardian undercover investigation.

The concerns have emerged almost five years after the Guardian first exposed how the retailer was breaching minimum wage law …

In the latest investigation, the Guardian placed an undercover reporter inside the same … warehouse … where an estimated 3,000-4,000 workers distribute goods for Frasers Group…

Frasers Group said: “The whole basis for [the Guardian’s] purported investigation is founded on a false premise – that a daily 30-minute rest break should be regarded as constituting working time and so paid. This is clearly not the case.”

The law says workers are entitled to spend rest breaks away from their workstation … breaks do not generally count as working time and therefore do not have to be paid…

Zoe Lagadec, principal at Mulberry’s employment law solicitors, said: “If the workers are not able to use their unpaid rest break freely and for their own purposes, then this time should be deemed working time and should be paid…

Another minimum wage expert … said: “… if you are not free to do [what] and go where you wish during your break then it will be counted as working time. In your example [at Sports Direct] a daily 30-minute unpaid break would result in a minimum wage breach.”

The Guardian’s undercover reporter asked … if he could leave the warehouse during his daily break. [Supervisors] said this was impossible and that the break should be spent in a staff canteen or on the smoking terrace.

Frasers Group said there was no legal requirement for it to provide separate facilities and … said workers were allowed to use their breaks freely and for their own purposes.