Ufa restaurant accused of mass firing over chats

Five women from Ufa accused a well-known restaurant of unfair dismissal: according to them, this happened after management learned about a separate chat where employees joked about the establishment. It also emerged that all of them were working without formal contracts — essentially on a verbal basis. UFA1.RU asked the restaurant’s manager, whom they named as responsible for the dismissals, for details of what happened.

The seafood restaurant is located in Zelyonaya Roshcha (Ufa, Bashkortostan). As one of its former employees told UFA1.RU, she started working there back in May.

«We worked in such conditions that we would go 15–17 hours hungry. So among ourselves we called the restaurant “Concentration Camp”. That’s what the manager didn’t like — there were a lot of dissatisfied people. Before that, many were simply removed [from the chat] because some employees were leaking on others, setting them up or snitching. But the pay was good, so we held on to the job», the woman said.

However, she acknowledged that none of them had been officially registered. The Ufa resident insists they were fired because of the messages in a separate chat.

The manager of the establishment told UFA1.RU that the dismissed were not employees, since they had not been officially hired. According to the manager, the women were taken off work for a different reason.

«They did not work for us under any contract. They would come in for cash, pick up shifts. A decision was made that everyone must move onto the staff, sign contracts. And then they receive their salaries, accordingly, on the 10th and the 25th. The women did not agree to work in that way. I gave them time to think. They said they would not work in a staffed mode, and I, accordingly, am looking for employees on a permanent basis», the manager commented.

The fact that people had worked without formalization for several months, the head of the establishment explained by saying that «more than one restaurant operates like that». People come in for side shifts when there are not enough regular staff, and they are paid at the end of the shift.

«I was told there was some kind of chat; their own colleagues told me they did not want to work with them. I chose in favor of those who are on our staff, rather than those who come in for side gigs», the manager said.

But she could not explain what exactly was wrong with the chats, saying she did not care who wrote what about the establishment.

The dismissed Ufa woman replied, however, that they had not been offered staff positions.

Earlier, it became known that employers want to carry out staff reductions — according to surveys, every tenth company has decided on such a step. In Bashkortostan, the risk of being fired affected 6,500 people. Some of them will most likely be dismissed for sure.