TGI Fridays to pay workers after redundancy row

The restaurant group TGI Fridays has agreed to pay workers the money they are owed after being made redundant, despite initially refusing to do so.
More than 1,000 staff lost their jobs this week when 35 TGI Fridays branches were shut after a private equity led rescue failed. Workers were told they had been made redundant via a video call from head office with one hour’s notice. Others found out through social media platforms or turned up to work to find the restaurant padlocked, with their belongings still inside.
About 2,400 jobs were saved in the buy-out of 51 TGI Fridays restaurants led by D&D London, which owns top City restaurants including Coq D’Argent and Le Pont de la Tour. Staff who lost their jobs were told the company did “not have the funds available” to pay accrued holiday, their final unpaid wages, tips or redundancy.
Staff were advised to apply to be reimbursed for unpaid wages, and wait six weeks. Angry former workers took to TikTok and WhatsApp chat groups to protest about the way they had been treated and union leaders threatened legal action.
In an email to affected workers, TGI Fridays said: “As a result of asset realisations made early in the administration, the company is in a position to make an early settlement of certain claims that would otherwise rank as preferential claims in the administration estate.
“As a consequence, the joint administrators intend to make funds available to pay the arrears of wages (including gratuities) and accrued holiday pay up to and including October 7, 2024. You should receive the payment into your bank account by Tuesday October 15, 2024.”
Bryan Simpson, lead organiser of the hospitality division at Unite, the union, said: “Forty-eight hours after they were told that the company wouldn’t make any payments, over 1,000 TGI Friday workers have just been told that they will receive their wages, holiday pay and tips.”
He added: “We shall be continuing with legal action to demand compensation for the company’s failure to consult their workers.”
Despite the pledge to pay money owed to them, former TGI Fridays’ workers remain dissatisfied. “They could have avoided all of this,” Oisin, 19, who worked his way up from a chef to kitchen team leader in three years, said. “I’m owed £1,300 and have barely enough money to get by.
“Two weeks ago we were told the company was in the process of being sold and not to worry. We were told our jobs were safe. Two weeks later, more than 1,000 jobs disappeared.”
On Monday, Oisin arrived for his 10am shift to discover the locks on the store had been changed and he had been made redundant with no notice. He joined the 1pm conference call with Julie McEwan, chief executive, who informed them they would not be paid.
Chiara, 24, said: “I’ve been full of worry and concern about how I am going to afford the next few weeks and also afford my travel [to leave the UK]. Having no certainty about what we will receive money-wise is making it hard to even borrow from family or friends.”
Under the government’s redundancy payments service, employees can claim up to eight weeks’ wages if a company becomes insolvent.
The company declined to comment.