Bar workers ‘owed thousands in furlough and unpaid wages’
WORKERS at two city centre bars have been left “destitute” after not receiving full furlough payments since October 2020, a leading union claims.
Unite the Union claim staff at AdLib on Hope Street and Blue Dog on West George Street have not received full payments since October and allege they are owed “hundreds of thousands” in unpaid wages and furlough.
While Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot comment on individual cases, the Glasgow Times understands that issues with the revenue and the company have been ongoing since July.
However, on Christmas Eve, the payroll company claimed these issues had been rectified and that payments would be made within 14 days. But employees claim that they have still not received any payments.
The revelation comes after AdLib recently underwent a £200k refurbishment.
Workers claim they were left without an income from October to December last year until the company began paying them based on the hours they would normally work before Christmas.
One worker, who has asked not to be named, said: “For several weeks I had no income at all. We’ve now had small amounts to keep us going but this isn’t enough to cover rent and bills plus the debt I owe from going without a wage. It’s a lot less than the furlough payment and missing out on tips makes a big difference too.”
Unite the Union, which represents workers at the two popular establishments, is considering legal action over the unpaid wages.
The union’s Bryan Simpson said: “The way in which our members at AdLib and Bluedog have been treated has been disgraceful.
“Most of their 160 workers haven’t received a full wage since September and many are still owed part wages from the summer.
“Regardless of what the reasoning is, every employer has a legal obligation to pay the wages of their staff under the Employment Rights Act and the National Minimum Wage Act.
“After months of failed promises to resolve, our members across all venues have had enough and shall be lodging collective legal claims for breach of contract and unlawful deduction of wages if the wages remain unpaid.”
The union has now launched a campaign to recoup the unpaid wages which has the support of local SNP MPs Alison Thewliss, Stewart McDonald and Chris Stephens.
McDonald, MP for Glasgow South, has been working closely with workers and Unite the Union to resolve the situation.
He said: “The staff are obviously in a horrendous situation. Like everybody else, they’ve got financial commitments, bills to pay and families to feed, and to not have what they would be entitled to in order to meet those commitments is unbelievably unfair and stressful.
“My priority is trying to unlock whatever the problem is between the company, HMRC and ultimately getting the staff paid, and to ensure that when they get the money they are entitled to from the previous months backdated, that they are then put on the regular payment schedule that they would expect to be on, as per the terms of the job retention scheme.
A spokesperson for the owners said: “Due to a technical issue with HMRC, our businesses have not received any furlough payment since mid-June.
“We covered the costs of furlough for our employees from our own funds until October, at which point we were forced to reduce the payments made, when it became no longer financially possible for us to do so.
“We understand this is hugely difficult for our employees and have been requesting HMRC to resolve the situation since early July.
“We have provided HMRC with the requested necessary documentation and we anticipate their action imminently. Our hope is for a swift and positive resolution.”
A spokesman for HMRC said: “We can’t comment on identifiable businesses.
“The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) was delivered at unprecedented pace and has protected more than 92,000 jobs across Glasgow.
“Our guidance was clear on the requirements for both iterations of the scheme. For the first, HMRC needed to be notified to a payment of earnings on an RTI submission on or before March 19, 2020. For the CJRS extension announced on October 31, an RTI submission had to be made to HMRC between March 20 and October 30.”