COVID-19: Gordon Ramsay Fires Over 500 Staff, An Ex-Employee Calls Him 'Piece Of S**t'
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is receiving a lot of flak yet again after he fired over 500 staff at his London restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also announced that he is temporarily closing down his restaurants amid the deadly outbreak of Coronavirus. Reports claim that he has fired the employees without giving any prior notice with just a months pay.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay is receiving a lot of flak yet again after he fired over 500 staff at his London restaurants due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He also announced that he is temporarily closing down his restaurants amid the deadly outbreak of Coronavirus.
Reports claim that he has fired the employees without giving any prior notice, with just a month's pay.
Many of his fired employees have claimed that Ramsay canceled their contracts, without giving them any assurance or guarantee whether they would be hired back once the situation becomes normal. Ramsay had called a meeting where he collectively announced that the employees' contracts were axed.
Chef Anca Torpuc, one of his fired employees labeled him as 'piece of 's***' for his decision. Talking to the Mail Online, Torpuc said,
¡°All of us have worked so hard for Gordon Ramsay and he has just got rid of us when we needed his support the most. Many of the staff were left in tears at the way he has treated us. There was no warning. We were summoned to a meeting and told our contracts were being terminated. It was so brutal. Staff from each of the restaurants were summoned to the Heddon Street restaurant where they were given the news. It was so awful and so many were in tears.¡±
The 28-year-old took to social media to call out Ramsay. She wrote,
Such a shame to see how the company that you worked for and gave everything you had for 2 years throw you away like you...
Posted by Anca Cosmina Toropu on Saturday, March 21, 2020
¡°I'm not talking about one person here, over 500 people lost their jobs yesterday so all I can say is thank you @gordongram @gordonramsayrestaurants I hope you sleep well at night knowing that so many people don't have a job in this difficult time because of you.¡±
Torpuc, who worked as a demi chef at Savoy Grill, reinstated that she would never work for Ramsay in the future.
¡°I have worked hard for him for the past two years, and this is how I am rewarded. It is not fair, but that doesn't worry him.¡±
The Michelin stars awardee had sent out an official mail to his staff, as reported by, Mail Online.
The mail read, ¡°I am writing to confirm that you have been given notice that your contract of employment will be terminated and you will be paid four weeks' notice. You will be placed on garden leave for the duration of your notice. Your P45, final holiday pay and any other monies owing will be forwarded to you in due course.¡±
Well, irony is that Ramsay terminated his staff members just a day after he posted a tribute for them on Instagram. He had written,
¡°To all our Gordon Ramsay family, friends and colleagues. In this time of great uncertainty, we hope that you all are looking out for each other and staying as safe as possible.
As the situation changes daily our focus has to be on the health and safety of our employees, guests, and community and to do our part in slowing the spread of the virus, from Saturday 21st March 2020, all our London restaurants will temporarily be closed.
Whilst we don¡¯t know when we will re-open, what we do know is by supporting each other through this terribly challenging time, we will come through this stronger than ever! Huge love and thanks to our amazing staff across the restaurants for all their passion and support. I truly hope we are all back together very soon.
Gordon."
Well, firing people at this tough phase of the crisis is the worst thing he could have done!