FIND OUT WHAT'S ON NEAR YOU WITH OUR NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

An ex-employee of an award-winning ramen noodle bar in Bristol has taken the owner to court and won more than £30,000 in damages.

Richard Riks, former operations manager of Sticks 'n' Broth, took restaurant owner Som Miller to the High Court earlier this year for unfair dismissal, among other claims.

He brought the legal action against the business owner - who owns several Asian-fusion eateries in the city - after the Baldwin Street venue was suddenly shut down in September 2017.

The shock closure left in its wake a number of unhappy staff, including Mr Riks, who had been put out of work without sufficient notice, with a number of employees claiming at the time they were also owed wages.

Despite this, Mr Miller reopened the restaurant a week or so later with an entirely new cohort of employees made up of university students.

The 40-year-old restaurant manager said he therefore had no option other than to bring his claims against his old boss in front of an employment tribunal.

"I couldn't stand for it any more"

Mr Riks said he filed claims for unpaid wages, redundancy pay and holiday pay, however after hearing his testimony the tribunal panel found he was owed a lot more in compensation because of the actions of his employer.

The court therefore ruled in his favour and against Mr Miller who had not attended the hearings nor contacted the court at the time.

"I did it because I thought someone has to, I couldn't stand for it any more," said Mr Riks. "Employment Tribunals are a really long and costly process and none of the other staff were in a position to do it even though some wanted to.

(Image: BristolLive)

"It was really hard after he closed it like that, at one stage I was in so much difficulty with money because I needed to pay my rent that I asked Som to pay me £500 of the £1,500 I was owed and I'd get out of his hair."

Mr Miller has been the owner of Sticks 'n' Broth, Baowow, Bangkok Joe's and Hanoi Coffee Company, all of which have now closed down.

However, he is now running In the Bowl which appears to have replaced the Sticks 'n' Broth restaurant in Baldwin street and has turned the Sticks 'n' Broth in Stokes Croft into The Smoking Bowl. While Hanoi Coffee Company is now Bonefish Poke.

Mr Miller accused Mr Riks of "sabotaging" his business

Mr Riks said he was disappointed at the way the situation had ended. He said: "I do genuinely still feel it is such a shame, because at one time I thought Som was my friend and even though there were always issues with wages, it was such a great concept and people loved it. The staff were also really committed and we were a team," said Mr Riks.

In the employment tribunal held on January 4, 2018, Judge Mulvaney found in favour of the claimant Mr Richard Riks against his former employer, respondent Sticks and Broth Ltd.

The court granted Mr Riks awards of £29,320. Later, increasing to £30,318.35 after interest was added. With court enforcement fees increasing the bill to £33,868.10.

The amount included redundancy pay, pay for three weeks notice, holiday pay, failure to provide statement of terms of employment and unfair dismissal.

But by far the biggest sum awarded to Mr Riks was in compensation for loss of earnings, future loss of earnings and loss of statutory rights which came to a substantial £20,054.

Mr Riks said: "I was surprised at the awards given, and the judge even said they would award me more but compensation is capped at a years wages."

"I do genuinely still feel it is such a shame"

An appeal filed by Mr Miller to the Bristol Employment Tribunal in March after the hearings had concluded was rejected by the tribunal judges.

In his letter to the court, Mr Miller claimed he was not happy with the way Mr Riks had been running the businesses, claiming his former employee had caused him to lose £200,000 through "over purchasing and inadequate management".

Within his statement he also claimed he had given Mr Riks two weeks notice and that Mr Riks and another managerial employee had closed his restaurant without permission in an attempt to "sabotage" his business.

Most interestingly, his appeal made note of his claim that Mr Riks had blocked him from accessing the business email address, tills, and Facebook and Twitter account.

He went on to claim his staff had given Bristol Live misinformation about the closure of Sticks and Broth which had been "slanderous" and an attempt at "destroying" Mr Miller's "reputation and business".

The tribunal, however, ruled against his appeal, saying it was too late to file a request or take part in proceedings, pointing out that Mr Miller had failed to responded to any correspondence from the court over a five month period and had not attended any of the hearings despite being given "every possible opportunity" to.

"The only money I will probably get is the redundancy payout of £1,440"

Mr Miller was advised by the panel to submit any appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal should he want to, but until then "The judgement stands".

The appeals letter written on behalf of Mr Miller also accused Mr Riks of dismissing staff without his say so, meaning he had to reopen the next week using staff made up of students. He also accused the manager of taking cash from the restaurants on a number of dates in September, during which Mr Riks said the restaurants were closed.

Mr Miller also blamed his bad health on Mr Riks and another manager, saying his heart problems were caused by stress "from the closure of Bangkok Joe’s and the unpleasantness from Mr Riks".

(Image: BristolLive)

Since the result, Mr Riks has been trying to claim the amount owed to him from his previous employer but all attempts have failed.

The High Court Enforcement Group wrote to Mr Riks in August this year to tell him they had gone to the restaurant in Baldwin Street but there were not enough valuable assets to remove.

The current manager of the restaurant told the debt collectors that Mr Miller had "no intention of paying the outstanding balance as he does not feel it is owed".

The enforcement agency has been unsuccessful in getting any of Mr Miller's assets to cover the penalty and advised the only way forward would be further legal against the restauranteur.

Courts rejected Mr Miller's appeal

The letter from the HCE Swansea said: "On viewing the assets, our Agent has noted that the only items with any value are the kitchen equipment, which are old and are in poor condition. Also, since a substantial number of the assets are built into the kitchen, they would not cover the removal costs.

"On conducting further searches, the restaurant at 53, Baldwin Street appears to be permanently closed.

"Numerous attendances have now been made to the endorsed addresses and we have been unable to locate assets or obtain payments," they added."

Mr Riks said: "The only money I will probably get is the redundancy payout of £1,440 which you can claim from the government in these circumstances. But, I'm glad I went through with it. It was really tough, but restaurant owners like Som can't be allowed to get away with this."

Get in touch with reporter Bronwen Weatherby via bronwen.weatherby@reachplc.com or @bronweatherby