Restaurant firm in hot water for employing staff illegally
THE company that runs Octopus and Le Petit Bistro has been fined £3,500 for employing and housing staff unlawfully.
Director Delphine Pesrin-Auder pleaded guilty to a total of seven offences on behalf of M & D Ltd.
The Magistrate’s Court was told that when Ms Pesrin-Auder had been asked in interview if there was anything she could have done better, she replied ‘everything’.
A total of four people were employed without the required permit and three of them were allowed to live in staff accommodation without a licence.
The offences were committed between August 2016 and July last year.
Crown advocate Gary Perry told the court how a housing control inspector had warned Ms Pesrin-Auder about employing staff unlawfully in a recorded interview in July 2010. In response, the company employed a personal assistant who doubled up as HR officer.
When one woman was employed to do bar work at Octopus, she had given the HR officer an invalid housing licence with the expectation that it would be renewed by the company, but that was never done.
A man was allowed to continue working there despite an application to do so being submitted late, subsequently refused and being told he must leave within 28 days.
Another man was given a job with the company and housed in its staff quarters though no applications to do this were ever made.
When a woman employee questioned where her right to work documentation was, the HR officer sent a letter apologising for the oversight in not arranging it.
In October 2016, the director of housing had warned the company about the need to ensure that the required permits for staff were in place at all times.
Advocate Mark Dunster said the company had nothing previously recorded against it.
All of the staff were registered with Social Security and paying their taxes.
The company employed about 60 people, mostly on short-term licences, and there was a ‘through flow’ of staff. The HR officer no longer worked for the company.
Judge Graeme McKerrell said senior officers had ultimate responsibility to ensure that the necessary staff permits were in place. This had to be done correctly and on time in order to underpin the law.
A fine of £500 was imposed for each offence.
