STAFF WORKING IN The Body Shop stores closed their doors “for the last time in Ireland” yesterday, after learning in a Zoom call that the Irish branch of the business is going into liquidation.
Staff have also been told that they are not being paid “for the last two weeks, for holidays owed”, or for “owed redundancy”.
It’s understood that thousands of euro worth of wages is owed to 39 staff members working across The Body Shop’s five Irish stores.
The manager of the Cork-based store posted an emotional farewell on Linkedin yesterday, marking the end of her five years as manager.
“This morning we found out with certainty that we will not be paid for the last two weeks,” she said.
“We must now go to the Government with our hands out, because of the way this has been done we are unable to undertake [other] employment for 30 days unless the Minister waives it for us,” she added, before signing off by saying: “It’s a sad day for us all”.
The assistant manager of the flagship store on Grafton Street also wrote a message to her coworkers on Linkedin.
“After seven years at The Body Shop, I never could have predicted the past few weeks’ events,” she said.
“To find out on a 20 minute call Ireland had been sold, to not hear from the new owner for three weeks. To learn we would be redundant second hand [and] not paid for the past three weeks is shocking,” she said.
“I’ve always prided myself on going the extra mile for my teams and they have returned that support tenfold. Thank you,” the manager concluded.
The development comes after The Body Shop UK was bought out by German private equity firm Aurelius and was subsequently put into administration.
Most of the company’s European operations were sold off to a firm called Alma24, which is owned by Friedrich Trautwein.
It is understood that a representative for that company informed staff that they have applied to put the Irish operations into liquidation next week.
They were also told that there is no money available to pay their most recent wages.
It’s understood that when it was confirmed to staff in a meeting yesterday that they would not be paid for it if they went into work today, they roundly concluded that they would not be going in.
The Grafton Street store is shuttered, and a sign in the window simply reads: “This store is now closed. Thank you for your custom”.
Debenhams
Cork-based Solidarity TD Mick Barry has expressed his concern that the situation facing these workers now bears “striking similarities” to the predicament that Debenhams workers in Ireland were landed in when that company went into liquidation.
Barry said that it is now up to the Minister for Enterprise and Trade, and the Government at large, to work to ensure that The Body Shop workers receive the pay they are owed.
The Body Shop Stores in the UK, Germany, Denmark and other European locations have been closed as different arms of the business have fallen into administration in recent weeks. Hundreds of jobs have been put at risk.
Barry is currently liaising with the five staff members in the Cork-based store. He said the staff there are collectively owed over €10,000.
“One of the workers is owed roughly €4000. One of the workers is a single parent responsible for three kids”.
Barry said that the bigger issue at hand is the question of workers rights in a liquidation situation in Ireland.
“The Government had legislation in front of the Dáil yesterday about this issue, it was debated for an hour. They are proposing to improve workers rights to information from their employer in situations like these, not to improve their financial situation, which is what we really need to do,” Barry said.
The TD said that he himself brought forward a piece of legislation, referred to as the Debenhams bill, which would mean that money owed to workers becomes a “debt” in a liquidation situation.
He said that his bill, and other pieces of legislation proposed by others, have been “buried at committee stage”.
The Journal has asked The Body Shop and Alma 24 for comment.
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