Commentary on Sections National Minimum Wage Section 9: Notices of underpayment
50.Sections 19 to 22F of NMWA 1998 contain provisions concerning the issuing of enforcement notices and penalty notices. At present, if an officer believes that a worker or workers have not been paid the national minimum wage by an employer, the officer may issue an enforcement notice requiring that the arrears be paid. If the employer fails to comply in full with the enforcement notice within 28 days of its service, the officer has the power to take further action by bringing a case against the employer through the courts or tribunals and/or issuing a penalty notice. A penalty notice imposes a financial penalty on the employer, related to the period of his failure to comply with the enforcement notice. An employer can appeal an enforcement notice and/or a penalty notice to an employment tribunal (in Northern Ireland, to an industrial tribunal).
51.Subsection (1) of section 9 inserts new sections 19 to 19H into NMWA 1998 to replace the existing enforcement and penalty notices with a new single notice of underpayment.