Manchester United reportedly face a fresh financial blow as staff sue the club for up to £100,000 after having their wage slips leaked to colleagues via email. In a disastrous incident dating back to 2018, 167 employees are said to have been sent their pay details and those of everyone else in the pool, and those impacted are now taking action.
Casual workers were sent private information that featured on their peers’ pay slips in the accidental mass leak, The Sun say.
Names, addresses, National Insurance numbers, earnings, pensions benefits and tax contributions were all displayed on a single file sent to a chunk of the club’s workforce.
It’s claimed that catering and hospitality, museum and stadium tour staff and programme sellers were those affected by the blunder on March 9, 2018.
The report states United were trialling a new system in a procedure overseen by “a lack of managerial staff”.
The Information Commissioner’s Office recommended improvements after the worrying error was brought to its attention.
Staff are now said to have lodged a High Court compensation claim on data protection grounds due to concerns that criminals could use the information to commit financial fraud.
“The club’s billionaire owners should take responsibility for this error,” says Jonathan Whittle of Your Lawyers, which represents 32 claimants.
A Manchester United spokesperson told Express Sport: “We take the data privacy of our employees very seriously and regret this isolated incident, which occurred in 2018.
“Measures were put in place to prevent it happening again and we informed the Information Commissioner’s Office, which took no further action.”
United’s colossal workforce – considerably bigger than any other Premier League club with over 1112 employees – has other reason for concern, according to a Mail report.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe has set the wheels in motion on a major cost-cutting exercise at Old Trafford, appointing corporate restructuring firm Interpath Advisory to lead the operation.
It’s claimed that the club has been working with consultants this month to review all areas of the business amid the ever-intensifying battle to comply with Financial Fair Play regulations.
Financial results for the second quarter of 2023/24 showed that staff costs had soared to £95.1million over that period. Last season, that figure stood at £77.3m, which Ratcliffe has identified as a significant issue.
The report adds that the process will be split into two parts. The first will cover business costs, including travel bills and contracts with external companies.
The second phase, analysis of employee costs, is expected to result in mass job cuts later this year. United’s staff count is currently over 200 higher than that of its closest competitor, Liverpool.
