A North East restaurant chain has repaid the furloughed workers it borrowed money from in an effort to shore up its finances - adding extra money as a ‘thank you’ to staff.
Tomahawk Steakhouse had written to its 500 employees – on furlough while hospitality remains shut - asking them to contribute around 10% of their wages in the form of a loan, to which could cover their pension and National Insurance contributions.
The firm had told the staff, who work across 12 restaurants in the North East and Yorkshire, it had a “short-term cash flow issue and it requires your help and support”.
The company later confirmed that all 500 had agreed to the loans.
Now, however, the firm has repaid the loans, while also adding an extra 20% as a thank you.
A spokeswoman for Tomahawk Steakhouse said: “As part of the voluntary agreement signed by all of our staff, we promised that any monies loaned would be returned as soon as we were financially able.
“Following the Budget announcement last week, we are delighted to have been able to swiftly honour that promise this week. All staff have now received the loaned amount, along with an additional 20%, as a thank you for supporting the business at this critical time.”
The GMB, which claimed staff had been ‘bullied’ into lending the money, said the money should never have been deducted in the first place.
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Neil Derrick, GMB regional secretary, said: “This was always an outrageous exploitation of both the furlough scheme and low paid, young workers.
“The cash should never have been taken in the first place as no employee can afford a further reduction in their take home pay - especially when it’s to cover their employer’s own obligations.
“Tomahawk’s bullying behaviour was rightly condemned across the board. Their U-turn is a massive win for workers.
“Let’s hope this abuse of the furlough scheme is over and not repeated elsewhere.”
The original letter from Tomahawk Steakhouse to its staff said: “The company has supported you so far with placing you on furlough (where possible) so you still receive around 80% of your wages and in order that we can retain you in the company.
“Now we respectfully ask, in these difficult times, for you to support us by agreeing to pay your own employer’s National Insurance/pension contributions by way of a voluntary ‘loan’ to the company, whilst we are in lockdown.”
Tomahawk had rejected claims staff had been bullied into making payments, saying: “At no point has Tomahawk Steakhouse ever suggested that members of staff would be sacked if they did not sign a loan agreement. Like the rest of the hospitality industry, we have faced a challenging year, and our priority throughout has been to protect our people and our business.”