After weeks of driving home in the early hours of the morning, shouting matches with management and a running joke about the stress-induced “Shack diet” she had found herself on, Ms Sugars reached breaking point and resigned. “I’ve seen a lot of good people completely deteriorate like this,” she said. Ms Sugars is just one of dozens of former employees who contributed to a WAtoday investigation into alleged underpayment, dodgy practices, bullying and a toxic workplace culture at the neighbourhood bar and restaurant chain with stores in Scarborough, Joondalup, Forrestfield, Mandurah and Hillarys. After finishing at The Local Shack, Ms Sugars started a Facebook page calling for former and current employees to detail their own stories while at the company. The group has since reached more than 500 members, though not all are former staff, and Ms Sugars has been sent two separate defamation letters from lawyers acting for The Local Shack.

Despite the legal threats, the groundswell has continued. 'Completely ruined' A former waitress, who worked at The Local Shack’s Forrestfield store in 2017, said she experienced a number of workplace issues that impacted her mental health. WAtoday is publishing a three-part investigation into Perth chain restaurant the Local Shack. “Being abused, disrespected, sworn at, called names and yelled at was [common],” she said.

“It got to the point I had anxiety about going to work. I dreaded it ... it’s a shame because it really could have been a great place to work.” A former employee who worked at the Mandurah store said she was constantly belittled and would be yelled at if she didn’t take a customer’s drink order as soon as they sat down. She said management did not hesitate to swear at staff and had seen multiple staff fired over a small mistake or if they stood up to management. Her short time at The Local Shack “completely ruined” her self esteem. “This was without a doubt the worst experience of my life in the workforce,” she said.

“[After the] abuse, belittling and bullying I genuinely thought I was a bad worker, a bad person and that I didn’t deserve any job because I’d just stuff it up anyway.” A former Forrestfield employee said during staff meetings employees were belittled and yelled at. There were times where I actually slept at the Shack, [and] I was sleeping in my car in Scarborough, because I just couldn't drive home. Emilee Sugars “I cried every single day on the way home from work. I’d call my partner and say, ‘I can’t do this', he said ‘baby, quit’ ... in the end, I had to. I was so depressed, I didn’t want to go to work anymore,” she said. Overtime outrage

Several former staff claimed they often worked excessive amounts of overtime without compensation. Under the hospitality award, full-time employees are entitled to be paid at overtime rates for any hours worked above 38 hours. Employees get an unpaid 30-minute break for shifts between five and eight hours, and another paid 20-minute break for work eight hours or longer. A 2015 Local Shack enterprise agreement stated overtime was to be paid at the rate of 50 per cent for the first two hours and 100 per cent thereafter. Two former managers told WAtoday they had received a directive to stop recording overtime if an employee worked past their rostered shift. "[They] would tell me if people worked overtime to change their hours in the system back to 9.30pm. They would literally say to me, ‘if they’re still there at 12 o’clock at night, I don’t give a shit, they’re not getting paid past 9.30pm’,” an ex-manager said.

Former Local Shack employee Emilee Sugars, 24. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola "It even got to a point where I would be clocking myself out of the system because I would be so terrified that the labour would be too high." Ms Sugars said she was instructed to not record overtime hours and often worked excessive hours herself. "I was getting in my car and falling asleep at the wheel," she said. "There were times where I actually slept at the Shack, [and] I was sleeping in my car in Scarborough, because I just couldn't drive home."

Employee contracts stated overtime had to be approved by the employer, but an ex-Mandurah worker said despite their best efforts, it was difficult to avoid working overtime due to the number of tasks they were expected to complete at open and close. "It would get to the point where you’d have to stay back or else the manager’s going to stay there until three, four in the morning," she said. Sometimes, they still did – with some employees saying they were often so understaffed they worked shifts from 8am to 11pm, or 6am to 9pm without breaks. In contrast, two other former employees also claimed they were not allowed to clock on for their rostered shift until the restaurant and bar “got busy”. When it did get busy, one of them said the store was often understaffed to the point where she had to take her mobile phone to the bathroom with her rather than take a break in case an order came through.

On top of that, Ms Sugars said to combat understaffing she had been forced to "trial" new employees just to get help to keep inside her management budget. The Local Shack in Scarborough. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola Revolving doors Employees rose up the ranks at The Local Shack quickly, but could lose their jobs even quicker, former staff members said. One former Scarborough employee said she was asked to choose two out of four staff members at her store “who were good employees”; the other two were fired.

“This made me extremely uncomfortable, guilty, and anxious to work after knowing I was the reason for two staff members’ unfair termination,” she said. After one employee handed in her notice, she received a text from management that read: “I think we all saw this coming. To say you were absolutely borderline useless is being kind. All the best...” Another employee running interviews was asked by management whether one of the candidates was good looking because they were “requesting aesthetically pleasing people”. Inadequate training also resulted in run-ins between staff and management. A text message sent by The Local Shack management.

Five former staff members said there was a high turnover, and employees who had been initially hired in entry-level positions or with no prior experience were often quickly promoted or hired to take over managerial positions. An ex-Mandurah manager said she had been promoted from waiter to bartender to process manager over a three-month period. “I said: 'how am I supposed to go from someone that's been waiting tables ... with only a day's training?’” she said. Despite the lack of training, a contract obtained by WAtoday showed that staff had to repay their training costs if they left within a year of employment. United Voice WA assistant secretary Pat O’Donnell said it was unreasonable and perhaps unlawful to deduct from an employee’s pay to cover training costs.

“A deduction can only be made if it is authorised by the employee and is principally for the employee’s benefit. We would consider that training a new employee benefits both the employer and the employee,” he said. Mr O’Donnell said another clause stating employees were not to take annual leave in the first year of their employment, except in special circumstances, was also concerning. “Hospitality workers are entitled to use their annual leave as they accrue and United Voice is concerned at the allegations that new starters at The Local Shack are generally not permitted to take annual leave during the first year of service,” he said. One former employee told WAtoday he flagged both clauses with the company. All hail The Shack

Ex-employees claimed they were often instructed to review and share posts about the restaurant and praise the restaurants in social media reviews, as though they were customers. “[We had to review] every one that we had been to,” the ex-Forrestfield waitress said. A review left for one of The Local Shack restaurants by one of the business' managers. An ex-manager, who worked at several locations throughout 2017, said she remembered being asked to review the store to bring its rating up and share content to her own social media; if workers refused, they were "screamed at". Another former manager said she too had witnessed this and said they had to share posts from The Local Shack page “every single time and if we didn’t, we would get shouted at”.

A message sent by a staff member directing employees to leave reviews on the restaurant locations on social media. Following their experiences, many said they would never work for The Local Shack again. "The only advice I’d give to people considering working for [The Local Shack] is to turn the job down, it’s not worth the strain and abuse you cop," a former Scarborough employee said. In response to questions from WAtoday a lawyer for The Local Shack said many of the allegations in the Facebook group were motivated by malice. The lawyer said the allegations in the Facebook group were calculated to damage the reputation and business of The Local Shack and its management.

“Our clients advise that bullying is not something that is condoned at The Local Shack," he said. "No complaint of this behaviour was ever received internally or raised by an employee at the Fair Work Commission, or any other regulatory body. Similarly, no finding of non-payment for overtime has been made.” In the past 18 months, three former employees have successfully sued The Local Shack for more than $45,200 in unfair dismissal compensation in the Fair Work Commission and Federal Court. The lawyer said The Local Shack also denied it had systematically underpaid its employees. "The Local Shack is a large, multi-site hospitality business," he said. "To manage the large numbers of staff, it uses an electronic timesheet system which is connected to software used to pay employees.