Pialligo Estate staff anxious about unpaid wages and entitlements

Some have been left with only a few dollars in the bank and none have any information about when or how they might receive their outstanding wages and entitlements.

More details have also come to light about how managers at the estate banded together last weekend to make sure four weddings already booked in took place.

While outside contractors were brought in to help with the weddings last weekend, some stood-down Pialligo Estate employees also volunteered to work to help get the events over the line. They weren't paid but the contracted staff were.

"There are people who have been out there going above and beyond out of a sense of duty, wanting people not to be left in the lurch," the employee said.

"There are a few managers who have also banded together over the last few days committed to trying to help other employees find work.

"The last four or five days have been really full-on with people looking out for each other."

The manager said about 30 of the more than 100 staff at Pialligo Estate had already found jobs elsewhere.

"There's been a lot of support from the community since the news first broke," he said.

"There's been a lot of industry contacts reaching out and offering support. And that's been very. very positive.

"So a lot of the staff, especially casuals in the restaurant and the kitchen, have found jobs quite easily as a result of that support from the community."

The venue announced on Tuesday night that it would be ceasing trading, with owner John Russell saying in a media release "we have not been able to reach an agreement to continue to trade the business".

An email had been sent out to staff and customers in the early hours of last Friday morning, alerting them to what was then being labelled a "temporary closure".

Staff from Pialligo Estate have since not received any further information about what that means for them and their pay.

Scott Riddle was employed by Pialligo Estate as a butcher's assistant at the Steakhouse.

He said he now finds himself in a difficult position due to the lack of warning about the closure and the little information he received.

"I'm a single dad doing it tough as it is, and I have not received my pay that was due on Friday. All I got was the email about the temporary closure," he said.

"I am on worker's compensation and can only do 15 hours per week, and the other half is supposed to be paid through the insurance, which I have got nothing from."

He said the little notice meant he wasn't able to go into the building and retrieve his personal work gear, and he fears that will impact his chances at future employment.

"I'm a butcher by trade, and if I wanted to apply for a butchers job I need my equipment back. It's mine and I paid for it out of my pocket," he said.

Another employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said none of the other staff have been paid and two of the employees there were on visas.

Another employee said she had not been paid since March 17 and now had $7 in her account.

She said the way the staff had been informed about Pialligo's closure was shameful.

"We weren't told anything. We were completely blindsided," she said.

"We all got emails at 12.07am [last Thursday] saying 'Don't bother coming into work'. And the reason why they did that is we were supposed to get paid on the Friday."

The employee said a lot of equipment and large machinery was removed from Pialligo Estate during the week before as the creditors moved in, up until Tuesday afternoon when a bus was removed from the property.

"All the shipping containers are gone. The machinery is gone. It's a lot of [John] Russell's personal stuff," she said.

Food and vegetables in a market garden at Pialligo Estate has also been left to rot, which had angered employees.