A NORTH-East restaurant chain has asked furloughed staff to loan the firm part of their wages or face being sacked, it has been claimed.

Tomahawk Steakhouse, which has its headquarters in Eaglescliffe and has restaurants in Darlington, Middlesbrough, Durham, Yarm and North Yorkshire, wrote to employees asking them to sign an agreement to lend 10 per cent of their wages each month to cover their pension and national insurance contributions, the GMB Union says.

A letter, which has been seen by the D&S Times, has been sent to employees asking them for a “voluntary” loan.

But GMB has claimed that staff were told, during a meeting on Zoom, to ‘f**k off somewhere else if you don’t like it’ and if they did not sign the company ‘will review whether you are suitable for your role’.

The D&S Times has contacted Tomahawk Steakhouse for comment.

GMB regional secretary Neil Derrick said the union was making representations to the company to try and stop the arrangement and had been in touch with HMRC.

He said: “We believe it is technically legal. It doesn’t break the letter of the scheme but we believe it breaks the spirit of the job retention scheme.

“It’s really an abuse of workers. The company is transferring its cash flow problems to people who are having to borrow money from credit cards or banks, which is what the business should have done.”

Mr Derrick said workers had been asked for between 10 per cent and 16 per cent of their wages.

He added: “This is an outrageous abuse of the furlough scheme and a legal loophole that must be closed.

“It’s never been easier for businesses to access cheap money, yet Tomahawk is bullying its own young, low-paid staff to raise interest free cash.

“This callous behaviour will leave waiters and waitresses, pot-washers and cooks short of cash and force them to take out interest rated loans to cover the shortfall or face losing their jobs.

“Tomahawk needs to take a long hard look at its behaviour – and this legal loophole must be closed before other companies follow suit.”

The issue has been raised in Parliament by York MP Rachael Maskell, who has written to the Government about the issue.

Describing the behaviour as “morally reprehensible”, she said: “Businesses have been supplied with coronavirus loans which they could access.

“Tomahawk should be seeking those loans, not raiding the wages of their staff.

“These are low paid workers who can ill-afford to subsidise their employer.”