Petition claims Nando's failing to pay staff for extra hours spent cleaning sites

A petition alleging that Nando's is failing to pay employees for hours spent cleaning down restaurants at the end of their shifts has received almost 5,000 signatures.

The petition addressed to Colin Hill, chief executive of Nando's UK and Ireland, calls for cleaners to be employed to take over the job, which, employees claim, can see them at the restaurants until 1am-3am.

The petition claims: "It's not fair after working a long busy shift to then have to spend three to four hours extra cleaning the restaurant. Some busier restaurants hire their own cleaners anyways.

"The managers would clock us out early and not adjust for late stays. if we complained, we were simply told we should have worked faster!! Please change this, the staff cleaning after 10 hours shifts break their backs! and tbh, because they are tired, they really don't clean that well."

It is understood that Nando's operates an automated clock-off system, with extra hours noted down manually.

A Nando's spokesperson said: "Nando's is a proud people-first business, with our employees at the heart of what we do. We wholeheartedly refute the accusation that we would ask or expect our employees to do unpaid work. Without exception, our policy across all our restaurants is to pay all of our employees for all the work they do, and we take this incredibly seriously. If human error ever does occur, it is rectified without delay.

"As is standard across the industry, cleaning is an essential role for employees, and this is made clear to all job applicants. Cleaning is an integral part of restaurant work and is crucial to maintaining high standards of health and hygiene, which we take very seriously. Any employee who is asked to clean is given full training, and we are proud to say that 99% of our restaurants across the country have a rating of four or five under the Food Hygiene Scheme, and in fact, 97% enjoy the highest rating possible."