THIRTEEN restaurant workers have been awarded more than £45,000 in outstanding wages after winning their tribunal actions against a short-lived Rothesay restaurant - but they have yet to see a penny of it.
The employees all began working for La-Scala-Med-Scotland Limited at the company's Victoria Street restaurant between April and June of this year.
But all 13 complained that they received no wages at all between their start dates and June 14,
when the restaurant closed down - and had received no money since.
They took their fight for outstanding wages to an employment tribunal in Glasgow and were awarded a total of £45,629, in amounts ranging from £640 to £10,507.
The tribunal, held last month, noted that none of the claimants - who should have earned between £3.30 and £7 an hour - had received their wages in respect of the periods of employment before or after the premises closed completely in the middle of June.
Since none of the affected staff members has received a P45 from the restaurant's owners, the amounts owed were calculated to the date of the tribunal, rather than the date the restaurant closed.
The tribunal ruled that the failure to pay wages amounted to unlawful deductions.
The 13 staff members were awarded the following sums.
Miss L. Buttle, 24 Watson Place, Ardbeg, £4,161; Miss R. Minnes, 61 Marine Road, Port Bannatyne, £3,866; Miss Sapphire Buttle, 24 Watson Place, Ardbeg, £1,408; Mrs Mary Digney, 3 Hillhouse Road, Rothesay, £3,814; Mr P. McErlean, 9 Foley Park, Rothesay, £1,672; Mr Stewart Malcolm, 41 Wyndham Road, Ardbeg, £1,235; Miss Tina Chambers, 41 Wyndham Road, Rothesay, £4,569; Miss Donna Smith, 45 Ardbeg Road, Rothesay, £3,814; Mrs C. Jamieson, 51 Longhill Terrace, Rothesay, £5,785; Miss N. Lewis, 10 Pointhouse Crescent, Port Bannatyne, £2,178; Miss J. Docherty, Birgidale Butts, Kingarth, £1,980; Mr R. Gallagher, 24 Watson Place, Ardbeg, £640; Mr K. Hassan, 42 Ardbeg Road, Rothesay, £10,507.
No-one from La-Scala-Med-Scotland Limited - still an active company, according to records at Companies House - was present or represented at the tribunal, and Raymond Yost, one of the two remaining directors of the company, declined to comment on the award when we contacted him this week.
The deadline for payment of the award in full is December 19, but one of the group said she didn't expect to see a penny of what she was owed.
"We haven't got the money yet," she said, "but if he (Mr Yost] doesn't stump up the amount due will go up on a daily basis.
"It's just been a bit of a nightmare from start to finish - it should all have been settled up by now."
Another staff member said: "The tribunal was actually very straightforward, because nobody turned up to oppose our claim, so it had to go through.
"We will wait until the 19th to see what happens, then after that, if we aren't paid, it's back to the solicitor to see where we go from there."
(This story was published in the December 8, 2006 issue of The Buteman.)