The national minimum wage (NMW) came into effect in the UK on the 1st April 1999. At long last this law meant that workers in this country could expect to be paid at the very least a minimum hourly figure for their hours spent in employment - or so it seemed. The NMW was introduced at two different levels; for those aged 18 - 21 the NMW was £3.00 per hour; and for those aged 22+ the NMW was £3.60 per hour. The youth rate for 18-21 year olds was increased on the 1st June 2000 from £3.00 to £3.20 an hour, and the adult rate for those aged 22+ was increased to £3.70. The adult rate is set to change further in October 2001 to £4.10 and then to £4.20 in October 2002. At some of Britain's top higher education institutions the NMW is still not being paid to employees two years later. At Leeds Metropolitan University those staff living and working in halls of residence have yet to be paid the NMW for the work that they do. These staff members make up the Residential Officer team, who are all awaiting payment of the NMW over two years after the NMW regulations were introduced. The NMW regulations also stipulate that workers living in accommodation provided by their employer cannot pay more than 50p per hour worked for their accommodation - up to a maximum of £19.55 per week. Again Residential Officer team members have been overcharged for their accommodation for the past two years, by a seemingly unscrupulous employer - alarmingly this is not only the case at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Highlighting Where our Higher Education Institutions Fail to Pay Background to the National Minimum Wage The national minimum wage (NMW) came into effect in the UK on the 1 st April 1999. At long last this law meant that workers in this country could expect to be paid at the very least a minimum

Date Added: Feb 24, 2009 Hits: Rating: 0.00 Votes: 0

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