Nando’s ‘not paying employees to clean’

Petition by workers says managers tell them they 'should have worked faster'

Nando’s employees have claimed the popular grilled chicken chain makes them clean the restaurants without pay.

An unknown number of Nando’s staff started a petition to “expose” the South African chain, attracting nearly 5,000 signatures at the time of reporting.

The petition accused Nando’s of not hiring cleaners and forcing staff to “stay till 1-3am in the morning cleaning”.

“Nando’s doesn’t use cleaners in stores across the UK. It means chefs and waiting staff are forced to clean toilets after hours – often without proper pay – and thousands of us are eating in unclean restaurants,” reads the petition.

Staff were quoted in the petition as saying: “It’s not fair after working a long busy shift to then have to spend 3-4 hours extra cleaning the restaurant. Some busier restaurants hire their own cleaners anyway.

“The managers would clock us out early and not adjust for late stays. If we complained, we were simply told we should have worked faster!

“Please change this, the staff cleaning after 10 hour shifts break their backs! And to be honest, because they are tired, they really don’t clean that well,” it added.

The petition, which addressed Nando’s CEO Colin Hill, also called for the restaurant franchise to pay all staff a living wage of £9 an hour.

According to Nando’s, the company pays staff over the age of 18 at least the National Living Wage of £8.21 and meets legal minimum wage requirements.

A spokesperson for Nando’s told The Independent: “We wholeheartedly refute the accusation that we would ask or expect our employees to do unpaid work.

“Without exception, our policy across all our restaurants is to pay all of our employees for all the work they do, and we take this incredibly seriously. If human error ever does occur, it is rectified without delay.

“As is standard across the industry, cleaning is an essential role for employees and this is made clear to all job applicants. Cleaning is an integral part of restaurant work and is crucial to maintaining high standards of health and hygiene, which we take very seriously.

“Any employee who is asked to clean is given full training, and we are proud to say that 99 percent of our restaurants across the country have a rating of four or five under the Food Hygiene Scheme, and in fact, 97 percent enjoy the highest rating possible.”