Furloughed workers who have now lost their jobs after Debenhams’ announced the closure of the town centre store, have been told by the retailer to apply to the government for redundancy pay not the employer.
Shopworkers’ trade union Usdaw, (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) the UK’s fifth biggest trade union with over 400,000 members, has called for urgent talks with Debenhams and their administrators after revealing the company has written to all employees threatening more redundancies, further store closures and to advise that staff ‘will be required to apply to the Government for statutory payments, including redundancy pay and pay in lieu of notice’.
Dave Gill – Usdaw National Officer says: “It is deeply concerning that Debenhams plan to pass the burden of redundancy pay and pay in lieu of notice onto taxpayers, particularly as they are already in receipt of huge grants to pay 80% of furloughed workers’ wages.
“It is too easy in this country for companies to sack staff and dump the responsibilities on the state.
“There needs to be significant reforms to make it harder for businesses to abandon their staff.”
