Police Investigate Claims Domino’s Paid Migrant Staff Less Than A Dollar An Hour

Imagine standing in the rain or, alternatively, the blistering sun, wearing a Domino’s billboard. Now imagine Domino’s was paying you less than a dollar an hour for this privilege. Welcome to Daventry, Northamptonshire, and their allegedly-underpaid Domino’s agency staff members.

The Domino’s staff were allegedly being paid 30p an hour (currently equivalent to less than USD $1 an hour) to wear Domino’s billboards and advertise the pizza giant. Police have now stepped in to investigate the claims made that some Domino’s staff were being paid as low as 30p an hour.

While Domino’s are attempting to distance themselves from these allegations, they are prepared to look into the claims. According to Metro, a “breakdown in translation could be to blame.” It seems Domino’s Pizza’s head of communications Nina Arnott thinks there could have been a translation error leading to the misunderstanding.

“There was an allegation by a translator that they had been told by a member of staff that they were being paid 30p an hour by an agency working on behalf of one of our franchisees. When we heard about this we immediately got in touch with our franchisee and the promotional agency and asked them to investigate. We’ve been reassured by the agency that there was absolutely no substance to these allegations. However we’re still investigating to be 100 percent sure. It does seem there was a breakdown in translation, but something like this we take extremely seriously, so we’re going through an investigation.”

It seems the allegations against Domino’s of gross underpayment is isolated to migrant workers. Mayor Wendy Randall reported these allegations against Domino’s after members of the public began voicing their concern for the migrant workers and their level of pay received from Domino’s Pizza. Police spoke to one Romanian Domino’s employee who, via an interpreter, told them he was being paid 30p an hour to work for Domino’s.

The Northamptonshire police told the Morning Star that they had looked into the pay allegations being made against Domino’s and “had been reassured that this marketing activity has now been stopped.”

While Domino’s may be in hot water over these allegations in England, in the U.S. recently, DNA found on a Domino’s pizza helped lead police to make an arrest in a murder case.

What is the minimum wage you would be prepared to work for? Let us know by commenting below!

[Image credit: Getty Images / Justin Sullivan]