Wagamama Employees Forbidden From Sickness
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If you’ve worked in any customer service based job, you’ll know that the Christmas period can be the most stressful of the whole year. The customers are whining and moaning, the team has to endure long, tiring days and the manager will be running around like a headless chicken making sure that everything is in order. One manager at a Wagamama’s branch in London clearly let the stress take over as they posted this unethical and completely ridiculous sign in the staff room.
The notice claims that it is each staff member’s individual responsibility to find cover for their shifts. Failure to do so will allegedly result in ‘disciplinary action’- meaning that if you fall ill during the festive period, you could get sacked.
Unite Hospitality, a union for hospitality workers, said: “To threaten workers with disciplinary action for being sick is not just morally reprehensible, it may be unlawful under the Health and Safety Act and Equality Act as it discriminates against those with long-term physical or mental health conditions.”
Wagamama was quick to deflect any responsibility for the incident:
“Following reports of a notice posted in our North Finchley restaurant we can confirm this was an isolated incident and is strictly not company employment policy. The manager involved feared team member shortages over the festive period and regrettably decided to take this highly unusual approach.”
The debacle sparked a #boycottwagamama movement on Twitter and rightly so, as this notice is a blatant breach of workers’ rights.