Staff struggling to get what they are owed from failed restaurant chain Wagamama

Sunday, 11 August 2019

Wagamama, on the Wellington waterfront, became Mama Noodle House before closing in July.

Staff have been left thousands of dollars out of pocket after the demise of Asian-fusion restaurant Wagamama last month.

The global chain had a restaurant in Wellington and three in Auckland before going in to receivership in July.

While the New Market, Sylvia Park and New Lynn stores have closed, the Wellington store had initially rebranded to Mama Noodle House.

The Wellington restaurant closed doors less than a month after the rebranding.

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Soraya Edwards, former manager of Wagamama, says her staff is owed thousands after the company went into receivership.

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The general manager of the Wellington restaurant, Soraya Edwards, said she was owed at least $6000.

Collectively, staff were owed upwards of $50,000, Edwards said.

This figure could go up depending on whether taxes and student loans had been paid, she said.

'I have called IRD to find out, but they couldn't tell me,' she said.

The staff at the Wellington store were given very little notice that they were being made redundant after going through the rebranding process.

'We rebranded the whole restaurant then, boom, redundancy came out of nowhere,' Edwards said.

'My boss gave me a text and that was it.'

None of the staff were given their holiday pay, days in lieu, or promised bonuses, she said.

The receivership had been sudden and difficult for the staff.

'There was no notice when it came to the whole receivership process. It was just, there was no work, that's it. The shifts you were rostered on, nope.'

Edwards had worked on and off for the restaurant's owner since 2003 and she was the general manager of the Wellington restaurant at the time of the receivership.

Edwards said she initially found out about the rebranding from a member of the public during a Saturday night shift.

Hospitality workers face losing their jobs if they challenge wage theft, says Chloe Ann-King.

'I found out because someone had seen the website that said 'Wagamama has left the country'. That's the first I heard about it,' she said.

'I had to ring the boss and find out what was going on. It was not cool.'

Despite little communication from head office during the rocky final month, her boss had reassured her that everything was fine.

She said the staff all felt exploited through the whole process.

'Most hospo workers live week to week. Its a lot of money,' she said.

It was all incredibly disappointing, Edwards said.

She had been loyal to the company and sacrificed time with her dying mother to come back to work.

Edwards' mother died in December from pancreatic cancer.

'The whole thing is pretty messy. It sucks, we worked really hard,' she said

'We also convinced staff we were going to be okay, but in the end we weren't. I look like an idiot, I look like a fool.'

Attempts to contact the receiver and the director of the company were unsuccessful.

Workers advocate Chloe Ann-King said this sort of wage theft was common.

'It is pretty much a business model in hospitality,' she said.

Ann-King said she received emails daily from workers who needed help with unfair deductions from their wages, who were not being paid or their Kiwi Saver had not been paid or they were being docked for breaks they had not taken.

'Employment law is barely enforced in the hospitality industry. There are no unions in there. A lot of workers also just don't know. They know it isn't right but they don't know how to fight it or stand up to their bosses,' she said.

'Hospo workers also don't feel that empowered. They feel if they stand up to their bosses they will just get fired.'

Ann-King had set up workers right campaign Raise the Bar to help workers fight for their rights.

While the extent of wage theft in New Zealand is unclear, a landmark study in Australia found a silent underclass of vulnerable Australian workers was owed an estimated billion dollars with almost a third paid A$12 (NZ$13) per hour or less – almost half of their legal entitlements.