Domino's defends itself over staff exploitation allegations

Domino’s Pizza has been forced to defend itself again after fresh allegations of staff exploitation last night.

In July, the pizza chain hit the headlines after Hungarian staff at one of its branches in Derby contacted the Unite union claiming they had been left in poverty following suspect deductions from their wages.

A follow up investigation broadcast on the BBC’s Newsnight featured other Domino’s staff making similar claims of abuse.

The BBC programme showed payslips belonging to Tibor Sorosi, a former Wolverhampton franchise employee, that showed he had earned negative wages because of pay deductions.

Sorosi has said the money was taken from him to cover the cost of buying and insuring the car he was using to deliver pizzas, which the chain said amounted to £1,700.

Another migrant claimed she was not paid for her first week of work, because the company designated it "unpaid training".

In response, Domino’s deputy chief executive Chris Moore said today: “The suggestion that these unproven allegations are representative of working life at Domino’s Pizza is absolutely untrue. 

“There is no evidence to suggest a widespread problem within our 12,000 strong team across the UK and Ireland.”

Moore insisted an initial investigation had found “no evidence” to support the first claims and added that Domino’s would fully investigate the new allegations once it had received formal notification.

However, he conceded that some franchisees did need to improve the clarity of their human resources paperwork and communication with employees, a situation that appeared to be at the root cause of the initial incident in Derby.

“To that end, considerable time has been invested in producing a comprehensive set of [guidance] documents which will be made available to all franchisees,” said Moore.

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By Chris Druce

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