25th Mar 2020 18:33
(Alliance News) - Pub chain JD Wetherspoon PLC will pay all its 43,000 staff this Friday for the hours worked last week, while the first payment under UK government's wages scheme will be made on April 3, it has been announced.
The company, and its Chair Tim Martin, has been under attack for sending staff home last week, with workers saying they would not be paid.
Wetherspoon has drawn up its own proposed rules as to how the government's retention scheme would work, and has submitted these to ministers for approval.
Martin said: "As we have already confirmed, Wetherspoon will pay all our 43,000 staff this Friday for the hours worked last week.
"The first payment under the new scheme will be made on April 3, subject to government approval, and weekly thereafter."
Martin thanked trade body UK Hospitality and the government for their "great efforts" in dealing with the logistical issues involved in introducing a complex scheme so quickly.
The company said that under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, it will continue to pay a proportion of employees' pay, for those who would otherwise have been laid off during the crisis.
Details of the scheme, first announced by the UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week, are still being finalised, and the company said it had set out its best interpretation of how payments to employees will be made.
Weekly paid employees will be paid weekly on a Friday from April 3, while those on monthly pay will be paid monthly, on the 27th of each month, from April 27 – although an interim payment will be made on April 9, said Wetherspoon.
The government has said it will reimburse firms 80% of normal total pay to employees, up to a cap of GBP2,500 a month.
Earlier, Rachel Reeves, who chairs the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, wrote to Martin, and Sports Direct boss Mike Ashley, calling for them to set out the measures their businesses are taking to support their employees during the current crisis.
She said: "Sports Direct and JD Wetherspoons are big names on our high streets, relying on the dedication and hard-work of their staff and the trust of customers for their success.
"At times of national crisis, it's vital that businesses step up, do the right thing and stand by their workers and their customers.
"When many businesses are undertaking great work to support the national effort, it's crucial that companies such as JD Wetherspoons and Sports Direct do all they can ensure their workers are properly protected and get the pay to which they are entitled."
By Alan Jones, PA Industrial Correspondent
source: PA
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