FUMING former-staff at a posh Scots hotel have hit out at bosses after discovering their old jobs were being advertised – just months after being made redundant.
Ex-bar, waiting, cleaning and hostess staff from Tigerlily in Edinburgh are said to be shocked to discover their old jobs are being advertised so shortly after being let go.
One employee has claimed that the company, owned by Montpelier LTD who are worth over £16.8 million, furloughed staff for several months before laying them off.
The disgruntled ex-barman said that Tigerlily bosses had promised to give redundancy staff their jobs back once they had reopened.
But some ex-staff are said to be fuming after spotting their jobs being advertised this week.
A screenshot from a Facebook bar group shows an anonymous Tigerlily employee advertising the new positions, writing: “In anticipation of the upcoming changes in restrictions, here at Tigerlily we are looking to fill a variety of positions in the upcoming weeks.”
Shocked by the treatment, former bartender and server at Tigerlily, Oliver Gold took to Facebook on Wednesday to expose the company.
He said: “Hi guys, I just wanted to make you all aware of an issue with Tigerlily Edinburgh over lockdown.
“It’s a horrible situation that the staff have been left in.
“Tigerlily has failed to financially support its employees during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Having been placed on furlough for several months, the company decided to make the bar, waiting, cleaning and hostess teams redundant to ‘save costs’ (despite the whole purpose of the furlough scheme.”
“They also made us take our accumulated holidays as pay too as a substitute for the furlough scheme.
“This left many employees in financial difficulty and having to find jobs over lockdown.
“This was despite Tigerlily making an income through deliveries.
“We were all promised our jobs back on re-opening.
“Nobody has been contacted and for the past few days Tigerlily has been posting on social media advertising dozens of new positions.”
Oliver’s post attracted over 1,000 likes and more than 100 comments from shocked followers and former staff.
One ex-employee said: “They seem to be looking for new staff at the moment.
“Such a shame when we work so hard for them and this is what we get in return.”
One user wrote: “Well I won’t be crossing their door. Shameful.”
Whilst another member commented: “Disgusting. They don’t deserve people’s custom.”
Another user said: “One cancellation coming right up.”
But one former employee wrote: “As someone who was employed by said company, and then made redundant in the same fashion said individuals have been – I took time to understand fully the situation and hold zero accountability to anyone but the financial climate of the hospitality industry given the Covid – 19 pandemic.”
To which Oliver replied: “If they couldn’t afford to keep us or even take us back, how can they afford to hire and train new starts?”
Six vacancies could be seen advertised on the Tigerlily website including roles for a door host, floor assistant and bar staff.
They refer to their work environment as being “simply dazzling”.
After the luxurious hospitality service received a backlash as a result of Oliver’s post, the upmarket dinery apparently offered some employees their positions back.
Oliver disregarded this as “a last-ditch attempt to save face.”
Speaking today Managing Director of Montpeliers, Innes Bolt said: “Financially it was critical we reduced our payroll as things continued to get worse and worse.
“We arranged meetings with all the effected staff to explain the position we were in.
“We received very late and minimal concessions from our landlords whilst the rolling grants contribute towards only 8% of our monthly losses.
“Oliver was understandably upset about being given his notice, he took this to his legal representatives immediately and dropped contact with us.
“We are in the process of re hiring all willing, previous, employees before hiring new individuals, we will not be building a new team and training them from scratch, this makes no sense.
“The advert that went out was to invite applications should some of our previous employees not return and restrictions ease quicker than expected.
“We also cross recruit into our other businesses.”
Referring to their food delivery service, Bolt added: “The ‘AT Home offering’ is in place to provide a service and keep our teams motivated and our businesses visible.
“It is mainly a breakeven exercise and generates minimal profit.”
