About 2,500 employees of Greek pizza chain Pizza Fan have been left without jobs after the company shut down amid a tax fraud investigation.
By Kostas Efthymiadis
Some workers say they too were shortchanged in the final weeks before the closure.
A 27-year-old delivery rider told state broadcaster ERTNews that staff were recorded as working six or seven hours a day instead of the eight they actually worked during the chain's last month of operation.
"We raised the issue, but we never got an answer because of what happened," said the worker, who was not named.
He also described how the alleged tax scheme worked at store level. Staff would press a button marking an order as a "treat," and the receipt would effectively not be recorded, even though the customer paid in full.
"The customer was shown a 20-euro receipt, and in the system you saw 10 euros," he said. He added that he had heard the practice had been going on for four years.
Police say the chain hid an average of 21% of its real sales over a decade through custom software. Authorities estimate the scheme cost the state 25 million euros ($29 million) in sales tax since 2022. Twenty-three people have been arrested.
The worker said employees had been promised their wages on Nov. 7 and that he would file a complaint if they were not paid.
Unions have urged the government to support the workers, and some politicians have called for emergency financial aid. Authorities are freezing the assets of the company's owner.
All suspects are presumed innocent.