By Sahar Foladi
Major cosmetic and personal care group Hiro Brands Group collapsed.
The manufacturers, located in Dandenong went into voluntary administration on Tuesday 2 January.
Ebony Everitt is one of the approximately 120 employees who received the surprise termination on the same day as administrators took control over the day-to-day operations of the operations.
“We had left thinking we’ll come back to work again until I received an email saying I’m terminated.
“There’s people out there who probably can’t feed their family because there’s no way they could just get another job next week.
“If they had given us a warning, at least we could’ve saved up and not have spent too much on Christmas.”
Employees are now heading online to file Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG) to claim their more than a week’s worth of salary and superannuation.
Appointed administrators by the Group will only “meet normal payroll costs and associated on cost including superannuation” for Tuesday 2 January, according to the letter sent to staff from administrators of KPMG.
“We confirm that the Group does not have sufficient resources to meet any arrears of wages relating to the period prior to our appointment and this will form a priority unsecured claim against the Group,” the letter stated.
Ms Everitt claims she’s owed an outstanding amount of $1000.
“They (Hiro Brands) pretty much wiped their hands clean. Now I have to try to get my hard earned money back.”
She explained the FEG claim process to be “horrible.”
“Not only did it take an hour to get through, it keeps asking odd questions like, ‘Have you had any relationships with the owners?’ this or that.”
Caught in a ball of frustration over the whole ordeal, she’s still thankful and is worried about others who have it worse than her.
“I’m very lucky to be living with my family, so I don’t have to pay rent but there are so many people I know at work who will be greatly impacted.
“An older lady just took out a mortgage at the end of last year. She won’t be able to get the payment.”
As the majority will be on the look-out for a new job, administrators will be “urgently” seeking buyers for the Group’s assets.
The Groups related entities have also entered administration including Chimera Laboratories, Scental Pacific, The Heat Group, Greenacre Developments and Doward International.
Hiro Brands manufactures, distributes, and markets a range of personal care, cosmetic and household products, sold under a range of brands including, Organic Choice, Orange Power, Aware Sensitive, Trix, ulta3, MUD, Billie Goat and Aus Medic Co.
