Tesco, Pizza Hut and Superdrug are among 139 companies that have been named and shamed by the government for failing to pay the minimum wage.
The employers short-changed more than 95,000 workers by a total of £6.7m during the period investigated between 2016 and 2018, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) said.
Firms identified ranged from big household name companies to smaller operators including hotels, hairdressers and shops found to have underpaid just a handful of employees or just one.
Tesco was by far the biggest employer – and offender – on the list.
The supermarket giant was found to have underpaid 78,199 workers by just under £5.1m.
Tesco said its breach was the result of a “technical issue” identified in 2017 which meant that some workers’ pay “inadvertently fell below the national minimum wage”.
“We are very sorry this happened and proactively reported the issue to HMRC at the time,” it added.