The TUC has launched a campaign to find Britain’s meanest, most Scrooge-like boss this Christmas.
The union body has called on employees to grass up bosses who act like latter day Ebenezer Scrooge’s as part of its drive to improve the way workers are managed and the conditions they work under.
Common complaints in the run-up to Christmas include bosses making staff work on Christmas bank holidays or face losing pay and those who count Christmas holidays as part of their annual leave.
Other gripes include keeping the office freezing cold to save on energy bills, only deciding on Christmas leave arrangements at the last minute and banning workplace relationships that start at the Christmas party.
Not allowing parents time off to go to nativity plays also raises hackles with many workers, as does not allowing Christmas decorations at work.
Other complaints include not paying the minimum wage for temporary Christmas jobs, making people work late over Christmas and cancelling Christmas parties on safety or compensation grounds, said the TUC.
The best (and worst) stories will be featured on the website workSMART.org.uk, with a hamper awarded for the best story of petty stinginess, it added. It urged workers to share their stories at www.worksmart.org.uk/scrooge.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “A minority of stingy employers have lost the Christmas spirit - some even break the law or use mean and petty loopholes to cut costs, at the expense of peace and goodwill at work.
“We know that modern-day Scrooges are out there, and we want to shame them into ditching the ‘humbug’,” he added.