Godfrey Mantle’s pub empire has been ordered to repay former staff and stripped of a 23-year-old workplace agreement by the Fair Work Ombudsman.
The FWO has been carrying on an investigation into the six Queensland outlets of the Pig ’N’ Whistle pubs – owned by Mantle Group, which also operates Jimmy’s on the Mall, and James Squire venues in South Brisbane and Sydney.
In 2019 two employees spoke out about work conditions, telling media their wages were docked when customers didn’t pay their bills. Records showed staff had been asked to sign forms agreeing to this if customers did not pay “due to negligence”.
In March the nation’s industrial watchdog found against the Pig ’n’ Whistle agreement, which included paying workers the minimum hourly rate ($20.33), without penalty rates for nights, weekends, overtime or public holidays. This saved the company paying at least $30.50 for nights and Sundays, and $45.74 for public holidays.
The court issued Mantle Group’s employment arm with compliance notices and ordered it to make payments to two former Brisbane-based casual employees.
Seventy-year-old Godfrey Mantel said at the time that wage deductions for unpaid bills should not have happened and that workers whose wages were docked would be refunded. He rejected any inherent wrongdoing, offering that he was confident “there is no basis for any claims”.
The Staff Services P/L Certified Agreement in question was originally set to expire in 2002, but was extended until 2012. The so-called “zombie agreement” remains intact until an employee successfully lobbies the Commission to remove it.
Twenty-one-year-old former Mantle Group employee Elijah Blatchford took it upon himself to sway the Fair Work Commission, and although his employment was terminated, he pursued the matter, which was picked up by the United Workers Union.
UWU organiser Martin de Rooy noted young workers were tackling an outdated agreement “that’s older than them”.
Last week Fair Work commissioner Jennifer Hunt labelled the 1999 agreement “a disgrace” and granted the application to terminate.
“In my view it is unconscionable this arrangement has continued in place without an application by the employer to terminate the agreement.
“It has resulted in this employer having an enormous competitive advantage over other employers who pay to employees penalty rates in accordance with the relevant awards, or their own agreements which satisfy the better off overall test.
“Presently, it is incumbent upon employees, often casual employees, to make an application to the commission, to request termination of an agreement where an employer does not have the intestinal fortitude to recognise what a significant benefit it has had for a substantial period of time and make its own application.”
In response to the decision, Mantle said “We disagree with statements of Commissioner Hunt. At all times [Staff Services P/L] has acted lawfully and in accordance with the Fair Work Act.”
