On Saturday, December 28th, Sea Glass Waterfront Grill announced their abrupt closure due to financial constraints as well as the owners’ personal issues.
Many have reached out to say the Sidney-based eatery will be missed; however, employees who were let go with very little notice are upset about the situation. They want to speak out about their treatment and the money owed to them.
Emily Atwell is one of these employees who had worked at the restaurant for around three years.
Despite her years of service, she and her coworkers were let go via an email they received at 8:30 a.m. on December 28th—just two hours before some employees were scheduled to start their shift.
Additionally, Atwell says that the owners of Sea Glass, Zach Vincent and Ann Lockley, have not paid employees for the time they have worked. Additionally, employees’ cheques have been bouncing when they have been paid and the tips that are owed to the employees have simply disappeared.
“Over almost three years of working at Seaglass [sic], my paychecks [sic] have bounced ten times. I would say mine have even bounced the least amount compared to the rest of my coworkers, especially the kitchen staff, who have larger paychecks than the front-of-house,” Atwell told Victoria Buzz.
“In regards to tips, we have not been paid out for any shifts after December 5th.”
Atwell also alleges that Vincent and Lockley have been using employees’ tips to pay for business expenses, wages and even personal purchases.
“At the time that we were not receiving our gratuity pay, Ann and Zach would come into the restaurant boasting about personal purchases such as cars, condos, boats and their engagement rings,” she continued.
“All while they were probably using their staff members’ tips to afford all these luxuries.”
She added that she believes Lockley would take home the tip out sheets as soon as possible to keep staff in the dark.
Additionally, Atwell says employees would only receive one week of tips for a whole month of work when they were sent money, while both Vincent and Lockley would ignore any inquiries regarding the tips they owed.
When the news of the closure came, approximately 20 employees were let go with no notice whatsoever.
“All we received was a ‘sincerest apologies’ following with [sic] an email that suggested no plan in how they were going to pay their employees back,” she added.
Related:
Since the closure announcement, many have come forward who recently bought gift cards to Sea Glass Waterfront Grill, which were being sold right up until Vincent and Lockey announced the closure.
Atwell says that even though she believes Lockley had a vague idea of the business closing down, she was still actively selling gift cards just days before the business closed.
“Ann was clearly aware of the financial situation that the restaurant was facing and continued to sell gift cards,” she stated.
“I am confident that Ann and Zach had no intention of paying any gift cards back to people and will make it seem as if they have a plan just to scrape by on facebook [sic].”
Because of all these contributing factors and more, Atwell says she is incredibly disappointed in her former employers.
“It is with extreme sadness that I say that as a team, we all deserved better,” she said.
“The owners took advantage of all their staff members’ loyalty to their business and used it against them in hopes that they would overlook their financial situation.”
Atwell says she reached out to Victoria Buzz because she thinks the community of Sidney and the patrons of Sea Glass Waterfront Bistro deserve to know the truth about Vincent and Lockley.
On top of the issues with payment and the closure, Atwell says that Vincent has been absent from the business since August, employees were forced to buy ice for the business with no compensation and there were several other instances of negligence toward employees throughout the last year.
Email to employees announcing closure
In the initial email to employees, which Victoria Buzz has obtained, Lockley and Vincent told employees they would have their final pay, tips and records of employment by Monday, December 30th.
However, in a follow-up email, they said they did not have the funds to pay their employees because the company was being turned over to an insolvency trustee.
“My sincerest apologies on all of this,” wrote Lockley in the email to staff.
Lockley added that once she and Vincent had decided to end their relationship on the Tuesday before the closure, it became impossible to secure the funds to pay staff. Instead she is turning to selling personal items in order to pay back employees.
“I will be putting my truck up for sale as well as jewelry, however that money depends on time and items selling. I’ll do my best,” Lockley wrote.
Victoria Buzz reached out to Lockley and Vincent via Sea Glass Waterfront Bistro’s email, but have not received a response as of this publication.
💬 Join the conversation
No comments yet — be the first to start the conversation
