Orwell Hotel, in Felixstowe, under fire over nearly two month delay in staff wage payments

A Felixstowe hotel has come under fire after staff members said they had not been paid since the Christmas period.

Over the weekend, former and current staff members took to social media to express their frustrations over not receiving their December wages from the Orwell Hotel, in Hamilton Road.

The row began after Orwell Hotel posted a statement on social media to dispel rumours that it was closing.

This prompted people to share their disappointment that they had not been paid.

Orwell Hotel subsequently said a small group of staff experienced a delays and all outstanding wages were processed.

One former staff member, who had not been paid but eventually received what they were owed on Sunday after taking to Facebook, told SuffolkNews: “The reason for not paying us is that the business has been quiet. They said they’ll be withholding our wages and they don’t know when they’ll get released.

“We then got a message to say we’ll get paid on February 15, which came and we had nothing.

“That was the final straw for me. I said I won’t keep quiet so I posted my story on Facebook.”

A group of six employees had not been paid for nearly two months, they said, and despite raising concerns, nothing was done until the social media post erupted.

Yesterday, the former staff member who spoke to SuffolkNews said three of the six were still waiting to be paid.

“Grateful is the wrong word because that money was mine anyway,” they added. “I worked very hard for it.

“I’m relieved that I’ve been paid, because it will make my life easier, but this should have never happened.

“You shouldn’t have to stamp your feet and scream and shout for money you worked extremely hard for.”

They said: “Time that I could have spent with my family over Christmas, I chose to spend at the hotel to help them get through the Christmas period because they were short staffed.

“It was a really stressful time. I just wasn’t in a good place mentally at all.”

Following the complaints raised on Facebook, the Orwell Hotel issued a statement which said: “We want to reassure our community that our employees have been paid in line with our commitment and values.

“While a small group of staff experienced a delays, we ensured that all outstanding wages were processed.

“We understand the inconvenience this may have caused and extend our sincere apologies to those affected.”

However, some workers said that since the new owners took over the hotel in May of last year, problems with payments, including delays or not being paid the right amount, have started to become more frequent.

The former staff member said: “Everyone is frustrated. We don’t have anything against the staff working there, but the statement the management brought out about the staff getting paid are really hurtful because people have been fighting for months to get their pay and haven’t.

“In the beginning everything was fine. It’s always a bit turbulent to start off. Things take time to settle, but they kept saying things will get better but they never did.

“As time went on, there was more and more problems and less and less people were getting paid on time or the correct amount.

“It will take me a while to financially recover from the damage they’ve done.”

The Orwell Hotel has been approached for comment.