WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos are among a string of companies named for failing to pay the minimum wage.
More than 200 firms face penalties of nearly £7m and must reimburse workers for breaches dating back over a decade.
WH Smith, Marks & Spencer and Argos all said the breaches were unintentional and had been swiftly remedied.
It is unclear how much they paid in fines, but the government said penalties amounted to up to 200% of the arrears owed.
“Paying the legal minimum wage is non-negotiable and all businesses, whatever their size, should know better than to short-change hard-working staff,” said Kevin Hollinrake, minister for enterprise, markets and small business.
The National Living Wage and Minimum Wage rose by 9.7% this April.
According to the business department, some 63,000 workers were left “out of pocket” because of the breaches, most of which occurred from 2017-2019.
WH Smith was the worst offender, having failed to pay more than £1m to over 17,600 workers.
The retailer said it had misinterpreted rules around uniforms, having asked staff to wear specific coloured trousers, skirts and shoes without reimbursing them for it.
“Following a review with HMRC in 2019, and in common with a number of retailers, it was brought to our attention that we had misinterpreted how the statutory wage regulations were applied to our uniform policy for staff working in our stores,” a spokesman said.
“This was a genuine error and it was rectified immediately with all colleagues reimbursed in 2019.”
Lloyds Pharmacy was the next worst offender, having failed to pay more than £903,000 to 7,916 workers.
