Pub empire accused of staff exploitation

Hundreds of casual staff working at a high-profile Brisbane pub chain have potentially been underpaid by thousands of dollars a year as a hospitality powerhouse uses an almost two-decades-old award to avoid penalty rates.

The Pig n' Whistle in Brisbane’s CBD. Picture Sarah Marshall

HOTEL empire Mantle Group Hospitality has been accused of “exploiting” its casual workforce by using a 19-year-old workplace agreement to avoid paying penalty rates.

An investigation by The Courier-Mail can reveal the group has forged ahead, amassing more than a dozen venues and eyeing a stockmarket float while paying below-award rates to potentially hundreds of staff at its popular Pig ‘N’ Whistle pub chain and other venues.

Casual staff are being kept on minimum “introductory” wages, in one case for up to seven months, and are not being paid overtime or penalty rates for weekend, late nights or public holidays.

Hotel baron Godfrey Mantle in front of his Jimmy's on the Mall.

Staff payslips, rosters and employment contracts show the low-wage workers are ­potentially missing out on thousands of dollars a year, compared with their entitlements under the Hospitality award. That is because they are being hired under an almost two-decade-old “zombie agreement” held by a Mantle Group offshoot, which makes no provision for penalty rates or overtime for casuals.

While the company must by law pay its casuals the minimum $24.36 an hour, they are not required to pay penalty rates or overtime as long as its outdated 2000 ­certified agreement remains in place. The company has denied any wrongdoing, saying that staff were being paid ­correctly under its certified agreement. The agreement technically expired in 2002, but stays in force until it is ­formally replaced.

There is no suggestion that millionaire hotel baron Godfrey Mantle was personally involved in underpayments.

It comes amid a series of scandals about the exploitation of hospitality workers, including celebrity chef George Calombaris’ food empire backpaying $7.8 million in wages and superannuation after self-reporting the underpayment of more than 500 current and former staff.

Employment lawyers say Mantle Group’s controversial business practices compare to those of Sydney pub and restaurant giant Merivale.

The company, which owns more than 70 venues, was paying about 3000 workers below the award by not allowing for overtime or full penalty rates for almost a decade under a “zombie agreement”

But the 2007 agreement was axed in January when the hospitality union took action to kill it off on behalf of two casual workers.

“It is (the same) in the sense that Merivale were also operating under a zombie agreement and therefore ­employees weren’t getting the benefits they would under the award,” Maurice Blackburn employment law principal Giri Sivaraman said of the Mantle Group situation.

“It’s legally sanctioned exploitation,” he said.

“I think it gives them (Mantle Group) an unfair competitive advantage against other employers who are simply complying with the award.

“It’s an agreement that should have died a long time ago and is allowing an ­employer to basically avoid award obligations, in a lawful way,” Mr Sivaraman said.

“That shows a gap in the law, because the law shouldn’t allow an employer to avoid the safety net; the basic ­minimums contained in the award.”

A Mantle Group spokesman said that it employed more than 800 people across its venues, “many of whom are longstanding members of the team”. “We have undertaken a complete review and can confirm every member of staff is paid correctly, and according to the Certified Agreement,” a statement issued by the company said.

“The agreement sets a minimum rate of pay and ­conditions for staff, and there are a number of staff who are paid more than that.”

It denied introductory level employees were left to work alone, saying appropriately qualified and licensed managers were on site at all times.

Mantle Group has more than a dozen venues, including the Queen St fixture Jimmy’s on the Mall, nearby eatery Milano, The Charming Squire at South Brisbane and The Squire’s Landing in Sydney.

Jimmy’s on the Mall recently won a 20-year lease to run buildings currently operating as the Summit Restaurant and Kuta cafe at Mt Coot-tha after winning the Brisbane City Council ­tender process.

Tom Thexton say he is owed back pay from The Mantle Group. Picture: Jon Gellweiler.

Ex-Pig ‘N’ Whistle Riverside staffer Tom Thexton, 24, who worked there for four months this year, said he was paid “not a cent extra” for working Sundays, and until 3am up to five nights a week.

He said his pay never changed from the introductory flat casual rate, despite at times being left in charge of bookings, changing kegs and other tasks usually performed by higher paid staff.

Most staff were either students or backpackers that stayed just a few months.

“It makes me feel sick to watch (Mantle Group) make all this money and not being held accountable,” he said.

“I was working these crazy hours and riding my bike to work and stuff because I couldn’t pay for the parking for the venue.

“And I was doing that for an introductory wage. I just feel like they were ripping us all off because we were all working our a--es off until 3am doing level two and level three duties and they are paying us as an apprentice essentially.

Another former employee, this time based at Mantle Group’s South Brisbane venue, The Charming Squire, said she was paid the introductory rate despite at times working as its head waiter.

Under the award, intro­ductory pay rates are usually paid during the first three months only.

United Workers Union ­national president Jo-anne Schofield said that payslips showed the agreement had ­allowed the pub chain to “pay vulnerable young workers sub-Award rates”, along with the inappropriate use of introductory rates of pay.

That is on top of Mantle Group in November confirming that it had erred in docking staff wages for unpaid customer bills. It has begun contacting former staff and repaying the money.

The union said it would help any current employee wanting to fight to have the 2000 agreement axed.

“The right thing for the Mantle Group to do is to agree to adopt the provisions of the Hospitality Award and start to pay employees what they should earn under current rates, including weekend penalty rates,” Ms Schofield said.

CASE STUDIES: WORKERS WHO ALLEGE THEY WERE UNDERPAID

Izzy Jones

Izzy Joneswas underpaid while working for the Pig ‘N’ Whistle. Picture: AAP Image/Josh Woning)

Izzy, 19, says she was on the minimum introductory wage when she went to work at Pig ‘N’ Whistle this year, but was asked to train people, close the restaurant and work unsupervised. She said she would work on Sundays and public holidays without penalty rates being applied.

Once, she said she worked 10 hours on a public holiday with no break. Management once tried to dock her pay $100 when customers absconded without paying.

She said she and a fellow female employee were once asked into an office and screamed at for talking to another waitress working the bar on a quiet night.

Izzy left after eight months and is now working as a bartender at another restaurant where she said she is paid a higher rate and penalty rates for weekends.

A Mantle Group spokesman said “legitimate performance counselling and direction setting with staff is undertaken in a formal setting, with witnesses”. She said staff had been “spoken to collectively” in the presence of a female duty manager.

Jake Eddison

Jake, a British backpacker was on one of his first shifts at Pig ‘N’ Whistle Riverside when he was told he would have to cover a bill for four steaks when a customer left without paying due to a till mix-up. He said he was asked to sign a form authorising a deduction of about $175 in weekly instalments. He said he was one of the staff who received a message from the company that he would have $50 deducted from his pay after a bad stocktake, but the company did not end up docking their pay

Former Pig ‘N’ Whistle employee Tom Thexton. Picture: Jon Gellweiler.

Tom Thexton

Tom, 24, worked at Pig ‘N’ Whistle Riverside for four months. He quit over management threatening to dock $50 from each employee’s pay after a bad stocktake. Tom said he and other casual workers were being paid at introductory rates, but would be left in charge of the restaurant and performed work ordinarily undertaken by workers on a higher pay grade. He said he would work weekends, public holidays and up until 2am or 3am in the morning without being paid penalty rates.

Sarah*

Worked at The Charming Squire for about four months. She says she was paid at the introductory casual hourly wage of $24.36, but was left to work unsupervised and at times worked as the head waiter. She was not paid penalty rates for weekend, late nights or public holidays.

*Name changed due to request for anonymity

Rowan Elmes

Rowan was 17 years old when she got a job at Pig ‘N’ Whistle Riverside. She said her pay rate did not go up when she turned 18 and she had to seek intervention from the Fair Work Commission. She was not paid weekend or public holiday penalty rates and only realised when she worked 10.5 hours on a public holiday without penalty rates being applied. She said this wasn’t explained at her induction and it was her first hospitality job. She stayed for seven months.