Pizza Hut outlet threatens Irma-fleeing employees with action for not showing up for work

12 Sep 2017

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In the wake of Hurricane Irma, that wreaked havoc in Florida, Pizza Hut is facing ire from Twitterati for some insensitive instructions, putting its minimum-wage workers at risk.

As people acted on governor Rick Scott's orders to evacuate, a Pizza Hut restaurant in the path of the storm issued a dubious warning to its crew.

In a Twitter post that has now gone viral, a Pizza Hut team member shared a photo of a printout pinned to a cork board that advised Pizza Hut employees on hurricane ''guidelines.''

The paper, addressed to all team members starts with expectations ''as hurricane Irma approaches Florida,'' stating ''our #1 priority is the safety and security of our team. But, we also have a responsibility and commitment to our community to be there when they need us. With that said, I/we need some guidelines in place to ensure both of those expectations are met.''

The sheet stated in general rules that the store will close 6-12 hours before a storm, and that if a team member planned to evacuate, they would need to alert a manager and let them know when they plan to return. But it said a member is only allowed a ''24-hour period before storm 'grace period' '' and must be back from an evacuation within 72 hours.

''You cannot evacuate Friday for a Tuesday storm event!''  adding that after the 24-hour grace period, team members are expected to work their assigned shifts.

''Failure to show for these shifts, regardless of reason, will be considered a no call/no show and documentation will be issued,'' it read.

Pizza Hut took a lot of flak on Twitter for instructions that put minimum-wage workers at risk, but responded with a statement posted on its website.

It read, in part: ''We absolutely do not have a policy that dictates when team members can leave or return from a disaster, and the manager who posted this letter did not follow company guidelines. We can also confirm that the local franchise operator has addressed this situation with the manager involved.''

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