Roux to dish out thousands in back pay to chefs

Chef Michel Roux Jr is to dish out thousands in back pay to staff at his Mayfair restaurant Le Gavroche after it emerged he was paying them less than the legal minimum wage.

As reported by The Guardian, Roux has already begun reimbursing staff who worked up to 68 hours a week for as little as £5.50 an hour – significantly less than the £7.20 legal minimum for people over 24.

According to The Guardian, Roux has written to chefs apologising for the incident and promising to make up shortfalls in their pay.

“It has been brought to my attention that some ex-staff may have been underpaid. If this is the case then please accept my apologies and reassurance that this was not intentional,” he wrote, asking staff to confirm what they were owed, with one former chef allegedly owed in the region of £8,000.

A month ago Le Gavroche chefs went public about their low pay at the two Michelin star restaurant, revealing they were working up to 68 hours a week for £375 before tax, while customers paid up to £60 for a single starter.

It emerged last week that, rather than distribute it to members of staff, Roux keeps all of the 13% discretionary service charge and treats it as revenue.

In order to clear up any ambiguity surrounding the issue, Roux will scrap service charge at the end of January 2017 and increase prices at the restaurant by 13% to cover the cost.

Certain members of the industry have rallied around Roux offering their support. Among them was Guardian restaurant critic Jay Rayner, who said Roux was “a good employer”, and that the problem of underpayment in the industry was “systemic”.

Underpayment of the minimum wage is punishable by a fine levied by HM Revenue and Customs.