A leaked financial audit of Fraser Short’s defunct The Sydney Collective has resulted in former partner Laundy Hotels compensating staff said to be owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The audit specifies 14 venues around NSW that were operated by The Sydney Collective, finding as many as 86 front-of-house staff may be owed a total of more than $700k as a result of payroll inconsistencies involving incorrect award rates and under- or unpaid overtime. Close to 20 staff were found to have been overpaid, to the tune of $40k.
The Sydney Collective (TSC) venues included The Morrison, The Republic Hotel Sydney, Sir George Hotel, Balcony Bar & Oyster Co in Byron Bay and Scott Leech partnership the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville.
Four of the venues named in the audit were part of the six partnership venues with Laundy Hotels, which comprised Watsons Bay Boutique Hotel, Park House Mona Vale, Northies at Cronulla, Lennox Head Hotel, Illawong Hotel and The Farm at Byron Bay.
The Laundys were shareholders, with the hotels operated under a separate agreement with The Sydney Collective, which was paid a management fee.
Feeling the strain of a high-flying career in hospitality, early 2023 Short called time on their decade-long agreement and inked a deal with pub legend Arthur Laundy for Laundy Hotels to buy out Short’s 50 per cent interest in the portfolio.
Arthur told PubTIC at the time they “enjoyed a great relationship with Fraser” during the collaboration.
The deal followed an investigation by the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), with cooperation from Laundy group, into the underpayment of kitchen staff, which came as the result of a separate audit.
“At the time of the acquisition of the hotels, Laundy Hotels co-operated with a FWO investigation involving underpayments arising prior to the acquisition,” said the Laundys in a formal statement by a spokesperson.
These matters were reportedly addressed and staff received back payments, leading the FWO to conclude its investigation. Short has said any and all known debts were settled at the time.
But in 2024 liquidators disclosed The Sydney Collective had outstanding debts of around $6 million at the time of the sale to Laundy, including a large amount owed to the ATO, and that TSC had likely been trading while insolvent from as early as mid-2022.
Findings out of the most recent audit and claims of underpayment, broadcast by the Sydney Morning Herald and coming several years after TSC’s demise, took many workers by surprise. Contract managers explained they were at times asked to work some additional hours without being paid overtime.
Former Northies gaming bar manager Danielle Stares says she regularly worked over 50 hours per week and is thought to be owed $11k due to her salary being below the relevant award rate. A former manager at The Morrison, Genevieve Holloway, is alleged to be owed more than $11k.
And former manager of the highly awarded Watsons Bay Hotel, Aline Castor, believes she was not paid fairly for overtime she worked every day, and is allegedly owed over $28k after three years being paid below the award.
Confronted by the latest audit, Arthur Laundy says he was “blindsided” and has vowed to repay any further missing wages, despite the errors occurring before the acquisition.
Since his exit from the hospitality spotlight Short has retreated from public life, living in Vaucluse and telling the Herald to “Please leave me alone now”.
At the end of this month the Laundy family will complete their purchase of the Nine radio network, which is slated to be rebranded as Tapt Media, but the group says it is acknowledging anyone affected by the impropriety.
“If there are any other employees who claim that they were underpaid, we encourage them to engage directly with us and we will undertake a full investigation and audit.”
