Exclusive: Ocean Basket CEO Refutes Claims Franchise Mistreats Workers

• Ocean Basket's CEO Grace Harding spoke to Briefly News following claims that its Menlyn franchise was found to have contravened the country's labour laws
• This was after the Hawks, the Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Labour and other stakeholders raided the restaurant and Babel Restaurant, which is next door
• Harding flatly denied that the restaurant franchise contravenes the labour laws of the country and asserted that it complies with the country's laws

With nine years' experience, Tebogo Mokwena, a current affairs writer for Briefly News, provided insights into the criminal justice system and high-profile cases in South Africa at Daily Sun.

JOHANNESBURG — Ocean Basket CEO Grace Harding flatly denies that the restaurant and its franchises break labour laws. She asserted that they are compliant.

Ocean Basket CEO speaks to Briefly News

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In an exclusive interview, Harding told Briefly News that no illegal foreigners are currently employed at Menlyn Park and she had spent the past day investigating the franchise using an independent labour lawyer, internal auditors and an accounting firm. This was after a raid by the Hawks, the Department of Labour, the Department of Home Affairs and other stakeholders was conducted in Ocean Basket and Babel Restaurant, next to Ocean Basket.

"After hours of thorough scrutiny, this is what we found: there are no illegal foreigners currently employed at Ocean Basket Menlyn and this has been confirmed by the Department of Home Affairs. All staff receive their monthly wages, tips and commission as per their employment contracts," she told Briefly News.

She added that their practices comply with the SA labour legislation and denied that the Department of Labour contacted them.

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Ocean Basket on payment

According to Harding, Ocean Basket also complies with the Minimum Wage Act:

"The national minimum wage is set at R27.58 per hour nationally. As Ocean Basket trades in different provinces and each province is governed by different bargaining councils or basic conditions of employment, we abide by the regulations in each province.

"Commission is earned as a percentage of sales for each month. In the event that the commission earned falls below the minimum wage — in relation to the number of hours a person has worked — a top-up amount is provided to get them to the minimum wage per hour. Tips are over and above the commission earned. It is a separate payment that is made on top of commission."

Hawks arrest 3 in Babel raid

In a related article, Briefly News reported that three people, including Babel Restaurant's owner and two undocumented foreigners, were arrested.

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Department of Employment and Labour to conduct inspections of restaurants following Menlyn raids

This was after a social media user posted an explosive video accusing the restaurant of infringing the country's labour laws by not giving them a contract, forcing them to purchase their own equipment, paying them a pittance and compelling them to work for long hours.

Source: Briefly News