Payouts for Jamie’s staff axed as empire collapsed
FORMER staff of Jamie Oliver’s collapsed restaurant empire have been awarded thousands of pounds after a flawed redundancy process.
As many as 1,300 jobs were lost in May last year when Jamie’s Italian chain, Barbecoa and Fifteen restaurants went into administration.
Of the 25 restaurants in Jamie Oliver’s restaurant group around the country, 22 have now closed.
Administrators KPMG said at the time that Jamie Oliver made available additional funds of £4million to help save the firms, but the directors were forced to call in the administrators.
Jamie’s Italian, Fifteen and One New Change Limited – which operates the Barbecoa restaurant in Piccadilly, central London – were taken to a tribunal when the three companies suddenly shut down and made their employees redundant.
Following their lay-off, 64 employees across the celebrity chef’s three brands alleged that the restaurants had failed to consult with staff for at least 30 days before making them redundant under statutory “collective consultation” rules.
Now they have been awarded nearly three months worth of wages following an employment tribunal hearing.
Because their redundancies were carried out without consultation, they were awarded 56 days in lost pay. Central London Employment Tribunal ruled that the company had “failed to adequately comply with the Trade Union & Labour Relations Act 1992” after administrators consented to the judgment.
An employee on the London minimum wage could expect to have been paid around £3,906 for 56 days work. If all 64 workers were on a minimum wage, the total payment would be more than £250,000.
Employment Judge Michael Taylor ruled that the protected period of 56 days began on May 21, 2019, as that was the date of the first dismissals.
No order for legal costs to be paid was made by the tribunal panel.
The claim was not against Jamie Oliver Holdings, which looks after the chef’s media and franchising interests and continues to trade.