Twitter users ‘disgusted’ with John Lewis after dismissal of seasonal workers
John Lewis came under fire yesterday after choosing to dismiss temporary workers ahead of Christmas sales owing to a lower than expected demand.
The retailer was called out by a mother on social media, after her son was hired to in a warehouse to prepare online orders.
Temporary staff were told on 23 December they were no longer needed, meaning they would miss out on a week’s wages and not receive a £500 attendance bonus that had been promised.
In response, one Twitter user said they were “disgusted” with the retailer while another called on the company to be held accountable for its “abominable action.”
According to The Times newspaper, John Lewis informed some 120 temporary workers in online distribution they were not needed for the week leading to 30 December.
The workers had been employed by an agency and were hired with contracts that were “deliberately unspecified” depending on business demand.
A spokesperson for John Lewis told The Times: “We are very sorry to hear about this. All of our temporary workers are recruited via a third-party agency and exact contract lengths are deliberately unspecified due to the uncertainty of festive work requirements, which is an annual occurrence for all retailers.
“The majority of temporary workers that we employed over the Christmas period are now back and will continue to work in our distribution centres to help us through our January sales period and many will also be back for other busy trading periods.”
However, John Lewis said it had been “working hard” with the agency to “better understand what may have happened in this case and to resolve any confusion that may have been caused.”
The individual mentioned had been paid in full for their time, the retailer confirmed.
However, John Lewis said it had been “working hard” with the agency to “better understand what may have happened in this case and to resolve any confusion that may have been caused.”
The individual mentioned had been paid in full for their time, the retailer confirmed.
“Further, any individuals who were released on 23 December who qualified for the bonus payment will be paid in January as originally agreed with them,” the spokesperson added.