An anonymous Reddit user shared a concerning post – which you can read in full here – on Monday morning which garnered a lot of attention.
‘u/LFCStaffThrowaway‘ explained how some employees at Liverpool FC are relying on hand-outs from their colleagues to get by in the ongoing pandemic.
In the post, it is claimed the club have several workers on zero-hours contracts and that some have seen their typical shift patterns stripped.
LFC have denied they have anyone on zero-hours contracts, but do have colleagues on ‘casual contracts’ who supplement their core staffing.
The club also say they’ve offered casual contract workers as many shifts as possible, but the up-take on these opportunities has been low thus far.
Back in April, Liverpool announced they would be utilising the UK Government’s furlough scheme and placing non-playing staff on leave, while supplementing their wages.
Heavy criticism from supporters led to the club reversing their decision and keeping on staff, despite there being a widespread suspension on spectator sports.
The Reddit poster admitted this helped at the time, but the situation for some has worsened in recent weeks and some employees are now relying on hand-outs from colleagues to get by.
LFC have released a statement in response, and you can read it in full below:
“It’s important to first clarify that as a club we do not have any zero hours contracts. We do, however, have colleagues who work with us on casual contracts who supplement our core staffing.
“At the beginning of lockdown in March our mission was to protect as many jobs as possible and so we paid our casual contract workers what they would expect to earn if football matches hadn’t been suspended. We did this for four months which was very much a payment of goodwill which we made clear at the time.
“Since then we have tried to ensure as many casual workers are offered as many shifts as possible during these uncertain times including offering shifts in different roles in other parts of the club, yet up to now we have seen a very low take up on these shifts that have been made available.
“As a club we are very aware of the challenges that face our city and our staff and protecting the jobs of both our permanent and contracted workers has been our top priority.
“Now almost eight months on from the beginning of the pandemic it is an unavoidable truth that our club, like many businesses, has seen a huge downturn in revenue which has impacted our ability to operate as we previously have.”