Sports Direct never learns its lessons as company finds itself in hot water over pay once again

About five years ago, stung by an investigation into working practices at one of its warehouses, Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley said he had learnt his lesson.

He wanted to be an employer like John Lewis.

He would pay above the national minimum wage and take agency staff onto proper contracts. His people were his priority.

That’s plainly still a work in progress. A second Guardian investigation (same warehouse, same reporter) emerged yesterday and comparisons to John Lewis don’t look favourable.

There’s a question of whether workers are actually getting below the minimum wage since they don’t get paid for breaks, but we’ll leave that one to HMRC and the busy lawyers at Sports Direct.

(As an aside the lawyers on the record attempts to justify Sports Direct policies are unintentionally hilarious, like a man with a mouth full of beef shouting about the benefits of vegetarianism.)

The bigger issue for Sports Direct, having shown itself repeatedly deaf to the public mood, is how much this latest farrago might cost it in terms of sales.

In March it initially resisted government orders to close all stores, claiming they were vital to the nation’s bid to get through the pandemic. (Don’t laugh.)

Three weeks ago as Leicester went into local lockdown, Sports Direct again insisted it was special and should stay open since it sold essential items such as dumbbells.

So the pattern here is that every time Sports Direct pledges to change, in reality it just stays the same.

There is surely a risk that customers get wise to this and take their trade elsewhere. They might decide that they want to reward businesses seen to treat staff properly. The company will have no one to blame but itself.