GMB slams Lidl’s ‘woefully inadequate’ sick policy amid coronavirus outbreak

The GMB union has called on Lidl to guarantee full pay for Covid-19 related absences.

It argues that Lidl employees are providing a vital service for the UK and that the retailer should review its sickness policy and put in place full pay for those people who need it, including paying retrospectively to those who have already had time off due to the virus.

The GMB says that it received a short response last week, in which Lidl refused to commit to guaranteeing full pay for workers.

“Lidl’s sick policy is woefully inadequate and simply not good enough in a time of national crisis. Beating Covid has to be top of all our priorities right now, and we need to ensure that sick staff can take time out and not put others at risk for the sake of a wage packet,” says Lorraine Gaskell, GMB organiser at Lidl.

“Last year Lidl saw its share of supermarket sales rise by almost 8%, and in recent weeks they’ve hired an extra 2,500 staff to meet demand. It can only be right that they use some of those increased profits to help stop the spread of coronavirus, and to recognise the hard work of their loyal employees at this worrying time. Otherwise it looks quite plain and simple, that they value their profits more than the value beating Covid-19,” she adds.

Lidl did not respond to our request for comment.