N120k A Night Oriental Hotel On The Spot Over Minimum Wage Breach (video)

Five Star Oriental Hotel has come under fire for violating multiple Nigerian labour laws by paying some of its full-time staff a monthly salary of N25,000 which is N5,000 less than the stipulated minimum wage for workers across the federation, despite charging N120,000 a night for lodging.

The National Minimum Wage Act, as signed by former President Muhammadu Buhari on April 18, 2019, Section 3 (1) mandates that every employer, except as exempted under the Act, pay its employee a wage of not less than the sum of N30,000 (National Minimum Wage) per month.

According to a whistleblower report obtained by West Africa Weekly, Oriental Hotel in total disregard to the stance of the National Minimum Wage Act continued paying its workers below this sum and only increased it to N30,000 sometime in June 2023.

The breakdown of the remuneration paid to these staff reveals that workers at the hotel are expected to pay their own taxes with no other benefits listed in the contract agreement. In effect, the hotel avoids paying taxes by treating its full-time service staff as temporary contractors and shifts the statutory burden for tax payment to some of the worst-paid full-time employees in Nigeria..

Also, Oriental Hotel’s employment contract stipulates that employees are entitled to a monthly service charge point. Yet, any request for unpaid leave would attract a three percent reduction in the month’s service charge per day while absence from duty without the management’s approval would attract a ten percent reduction from the said points.

According to the publication, not only does the hotel grossly underpay some of its staff, but the report disclosed that while the hotel’s Operations Manager, Taiwo Alli, and the German General Manager, Philip Spielhagen are millionaires who drive multiple luxury vehicles including Mercedes Benz G500 among others, the hotel does not possess and has made no provision for a staff bus.

Regardless, the management expects the afternoon shift workers to return home after crossing shift by 11 pm despite no provision for transport nor accommodation.

An anonymous insider lamented that this has forced staff who cannot return home, given the late hour, to sleep over in the filthy changing room – which the hotel severely frowns upon – so as not to fall victim to late-hour insecurity.

He also alleged that the hotel has been using the staff bus belonging to Huawei – whose offices are in the hotel complex- to disguise the fact that the management does not provide a staff bus. In a sham move to deceive the Labour Union into thinking it has availed its workers with one, the Director and General Manager once directed a worker to show the Union the Huawei staff bus as though it belonged to the Hotel.

The report also alleged that there is no provision for a staff bus, despite Lagos Oriental Hotel’s failure to provide accommodation but workers are expected to show up to work on time and without exception under such conditions.

The exclusive visuals of the employees’ locker room below reveal a glimpse into the conditions suffered by the Oriental Hotel employees at the literal and figurative bottom of the totem pole, as they support the 12 floors of 4-star, N120,000/night luxury above them.

See video below 👇

Investigative journalist, writer and film maker, David Hundeyin posting this on his X official handle captioned the situation, “Hotel that charges N120,000/night on average breaks Nigerian labour law by paying full-time staff below minimum wage and asking them to deduct PAYE by themselves.

“Hotel lies about providing bus to staff whose shifts end at 11PM. A microcosm of Nigerian corporate nonsense.”

See other reactions from netizens on X:

@obajemujnr said, “If you want to know the true definition of hunger, stay in a big man’s house. Meaning: Working for the richest does not mean they will pay you more than a peanut; they never want you to grow. All we earn are survival fees.”

@tykeiy said, “Even feeding. U don’t dere eat anything there, u will be sacked. They rather sell off remaining food instead of staff to eat them. Wickedness is our identify as a nation.”

@Mr_francis55 “Below minimum wage? How much could they be paying? How do the workers survive? “Anyways that’s why workers greet customers more than normal every time you make use of such facilities hoping to see something from customers, They carry your luggage and even make suggestions of things available that you might be interested in just to get your affinity.”

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