Hochi Mama scandal: top city restaurant owner denies he underpaid and mistreated staff
Claims that workers at two popular Melbourne CBD restaurants were forced to sleep at work, paid as little as $5 an hour and sacked via WhatsApp group chat have been denied by the owner of the Asian-fusion eateries.
Inner South
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The operator of two popular city restaurants has been forced to deny accusations of wage theft and “shameful” work practises in what one worker slammed as a “toxic and unbearable” workplace.
The Fair Work Ombudsman is investigating claims Thai Ho, who runs trendy Vietnamese fusion venues Hochi Mama and Straight Outta Saigon (formerly Twenty Pho Seven), paid cash wages below award rates to many of his employees, with some staff getting as little as $5 an hour.
He is also accused of forcing workers to do 14-hour shifts and to sleep at the restaurant.
One worker alleges he found out he was sacked because he was removed from the workplace group WhatsApp chat.
Mr Ho has denied the allegations and told the Leader his businesses were “committed to ensuring proper treatment of our employees”.
Two former employees, who did not wish to be named, estimated they were underpaid $9,508.56 and $3,677.52 while they worked for Mr Ho, and have lodged claims with the Fair Work Ombudsman.
A third employee, Brighton bartender Alex Pugh, alleged he was underpaid almost $3000 when working for Mr Ho between October, 2017 and November, 2018.
Mr Pugh alleged back of house staff such as chefs, cooks and kitchen hands — which he said were mostly Thai and Vietnamese — were paid a flat rate of between $70 and $100 a day.
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And he alleged shifts could last up 14 hours a day, kitchen staff commonly slept at the restaurant, and said both venues had toxic, unbearable work culture.
A former manager at Hochi Mama has also voiced allegations about long hours and low pay.
Becky Wilkinson said she started on $20 an hour with no penalty or public holiday rates.
“I pushed to get staff paid a bit more on public holidays but that still wasn’t a legal amount. I was paid hourly until my visa needed me to be on salary but still no penalty rates just a flat rate,” she alleged.
Mr Pugh claimed Mr Ho’s practice of giving staff cash and gift cards in return for positive TripAdvisor reviews from customers helped create a toxic and unbearable work culture.
“Staff were sniping at each other to get bonuses,” Mr Pugh said.
The bar worker also claimed he was removed from the workplace WhatsApp message group before he was told he’d been fired, even though he’d worked there for more than 12 months.
However, Mr Ho told the Leader staff who were not successful during their casual-probation period were advised prior to being removed from WhatsApp.
“In no way would the business ever dismiss anyone just by removing them.”
Mr Ho denied he underpaid any staff.
“Our staff are paid wages in accordance with the applicable award,” Mr Hugh said.
“We have had no contact with any employee who has claimed to have been underpaid.
“If any employee is of the view that they have been underpaid then we would be pleased to hear from them to investigate the issue and address it appropriately.”
Mr Ho said he offered staff incentives to “go the extra mile with customers” but they had “no obligation to do this”.
United Voice’s hospitality union branch, Hospo Voice, reported Mr Ho to the Ombudsman after it investigated complaints by former staff.
The union, along with Trades Hall and the Migrant Workers Centre held a rally Tuesday evening to raise concerns about the two restaurants, the issue of “wage theft” in the hospitality industry and the exploitation of migrant workers.
The union’s Victorian secretary Ben Redford said hospitality workers were fed up with employers “stealing their pay and treating them like dirt”.
“We demand the watchdog condemn this callous method of sacking workers and thoroughly investigate wage theft and exploitation of migrant workers at these venues,” he said.
A Fair Work Ombudsman spokesman confirmed it would investigate the complaints.
“We encourage any workers with concerns to contact us directly for assistance,” the spokesman said.
Employers and employees seeking assistance from the Fair Work Ombudsman can visit fairwork.gov.au or contact the Fair Work Infoline on 13 13 94.
An interpreter service is available by calling 13 14 50
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