Andi Oliver restaurant admits delay in handing tips to staff

theguardian.com:

Celebrity chef Andi Oliver’s east London restaurant business has admitted taking weeks to hand over at least £6,000 in tips after staff say they downed tools in a dispute over pay.

Up to 20 staff at Wadadli Kitchen and Wadadli Roadside in Hackney, both of which are currently closed, said they had received only a portion of the payment owed after writing to Oliver’s business partner, Garfield Hackett, in November saying they were going on strike.

They said at the time: “We ask for nothing more in return than what we are rightfully owed.” They estimate they were owed up to £9,000.

The restaurant, co-founded by Oliver, who is the host on the BBC’s Great British Menu, charged customers for service on top of their bill and customers were also able to add tips.

At present, there is no legal requirement to distribute such non-cash tips or service charges unless a worker’s contract states they will be distributed as part of their remuneration.

However, the government has pledged to ban restaurants from keeping the service charge after numerous cases of staff losing out.

Wadadli Kitchen admitted it had been slow to pay the service charge. It said the restaurant had closed after the end of the season, and because of government measures after a planned winter barbecue in late November rather than because of any strike. It said that two members of staff continued to work for the business and two had been employed at some point in recent weeks.

It said £6,000 was owed and half of this had been paid in October and the other half in January. It said staff had been contacted with an explanation in December.

The December letter to workers said management would get a third of the service charge with 70% of the rest going to waiting staff and 30%