The Ponsonby branch of Laser Clinics New Zealand was shuttered on August 16. Photo \/ Google<\/p>\n
Frykberg said \u201cstaff were advised months in advance regarding the 31 August closure and were updated regularly\u201d, but Behmanpour claims all updates were verbal and through Frykberg.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe never receive any emails from the head office. They just told Gordon he must communicate with us, but none of us got any written letter or email from LCNZ or LCA; we never got any email mentioning redundancy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Laser Clinics said it made the decision to terminate the franchise agreement for Laser Clinics Ponsonby because of \u201crepeated and material unremedied breaches\u201d by the franchisee.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur actions were necessary to protect the wider Laser Clinics network and the integrity of our brand.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the call with Taylor, Bahmanpour asked what would happen about pay, and she suggested it was Frykberg\u2019s responsibility. She claims she was personally assured that \u201cwages and accrued annual leave would be protected following the closure\u201d.<\/p>\n
That did not happen.<\/p>\n
Laser Clinics New Zealand operates under a 50\/50 franchise partnership model. Photo \/ Google<\/p>\n
On the afternoon of August 16, staff received an email from Laser Clinics Australia\u2019s senior people business partner offering access to its employee assistance programme (EAP). <\/p>\n
Behnoosh Bahmanpour says the shuttering of the Ponsonby Rd branch of Laser Clinics NZ on August 16 was an unwelcome surprise. <\/p>\n
Bahmanpour claims that promise was hollow. \u201cNone of us have received any call or email for support; they have disappeared completely.\u201d<\/p>\n
The next day, Bahmanpour could remotely access the payroll system, so she logged the final pay owed to her and staff. This followed standard company procedure, which saw wages paid by LCNZ Ponsonby Pty Ltd, a company directed by Frykberg, but with shareholdings split evenly between LCNZ Operations Pty Limited and Frykberg\u2019s company Hoje Limited.<\/p>\n
However, ongoing disagreement between the parties means that three months on from the closure, Bahmanpour and her colleagues haven\u2019t received a cent. The Herald understands outstanding wages are in the vicinity of $30,000.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Laser Clinics told the Herald all Laser Clinics in New Zealand operate under a 50-50 ownership model. \u201cUnder this model, the franchisee is the employer of clinic staff and solely responsible for employees\u2019 entitlements and obligations.\u201d <\/p>\n
It is Frykberg\u2019s view, however, that the Ponsonby clinic \u201cwas a victim of the franchise business model\u201d. He claims his clinic was \u201cdoomed from the start to be unsustainable for the financial demands the franchise agreement demanded\u201d.<\/p>\n
In an August 8 email, Frykberg told Laser Clinics he\u2019d need financial assistance to meet final payroll payments, saying \u201crevenue is pretty much non-existent\u201d.<\/p>\n
In response, Laser Clinics asked for details of outstanding financials, saying \u201cit is up to you as the director to manage through to close\u201d.<\/p>\n
On August 27, Frykberg wrote in an email to Laser Clinics\u2019 lawyers, the law firm Wynn Williams, outlining the dire financial situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cLCNZ Ponsonby Pty Limited has no revenue, LCNZ Ponsonby Pty Limited has no cash flow, LCNZ Ponsonby has no funds. This position is a direct consequence of the actions or lack of by your client.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, lawyers restated to Frykberg: \u201cYou are obliged to pay the franchisee\u2019s staff whether or not the franchisee is solvent (which it is not).\u201d<\/p>\n
The franchisee of the former Laser Clinics New Zealand Ponsonby branch blames the franchise model for its shuttering. Photo \/ Anna Heath <\/p>\n
The contractual quagmire has greatly distressed Bahmanpour, who had tried to act as a staff advocate before the closure.<\/p>\n
In May, she was diagnosed with a recurrence of cancer and had been managing her medical treatment around her work schedule, attending hospital visits in the morning before working full days.<\/p>\n
In July, Bahmanpour wrote to the head office to express concerns, detailing that the clinic was short-staffed and advised she would need time off to recuperate after planned surgery. She asked if there was a plan to fill these staffing gaps or \u201cif the clinic will be closing earlier than planned\u201d.<\/p>\n
Her concerns went unaddressed.<\/p>\n
Behnoosh Bahmanpour had a full mastectomy three days after her workplace closed.<\/p>\n
Bhamanpour\u2019s surgery occurred three days after the clinic closure, and she came out of the procedure to an influx of panicked messages from other staff asking why they hadn\u2019t received their last pay.<\/p>\n
Having to deal with this situation and navigating an unexpected loss of income when she should have been prioritising her health has left Bahmanpour with the sense that her former employers \u201care not concerned at all with the employee\u2019s situation and condition\u201d.<\/p>\n
Describing the back and forth between Frykberg and Laser Clinics, Bahmanpour said: \u201cIt is something like a war between them, but I have to pay the cost for them with my wages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff were not told the clinic’s closure had been brought forward. Photo \/ Anna Heath<\/p>\n
On September 3, Bahmanpour and her colleagues went to the Employee Relations Authority about owed wages and requested a mediation. Again, both Frykberg and Laser Clinics blamed each other.<\/p>\n
In October, Bahmanpour wrote directly to lawyers representing Laser Clinics, telling them: \u201cThe actions taken by LCA, including the sudden closure of the clinic without prior notice to staff, have placed my family and me under immense emotional and financial pressure \u2013 particularly as I continue to manage a life-threatening illness.\u201d<\/p>\n
Three months on, staff haven’t been paid. Photo \/ Anna Heath <\/p>\n
ERA mediation attempts halted on October 23 when licensed insolvency practitioner Rodgers Reidy was appointed as liquidator of LCNZ Ponsonby Pty Limited, upon the petition of LCNZ Franchising Pty Limited.<\/p>\n
Rodgers Reidy director Lynda Smart told the Herald the franchisor and franchisee were co-operating, but \u201cit is too early in the liquidation process for us to be able to determine the likelihood of recoveries, and whether these will be sufficient to clear staff claims\u201d.<\/p>\n
Bahmanpour has been noted as a preferential creditor and advised by liquidators: \u201cIf we do find ourselves in a position where we are holding funds to allow us to distribute amongst the preferential creditors, we will be in touch at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Laser Clinics spokesperson told the Herald they appreciated the uncertainty and hardship the closure of the clinic had caused staff.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are deeply concerned that some employees have not yet received their final entitlements and acknowledge the distress this has caused affected staff.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Ponsonby branch of Laser Clinics New Zealand was shuttered on August 16. Photo \/ Google Frykberg said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[74,1244,1558,138,27056,16415,17163,13731,2082,13687,305,296,3926,101,2739,4754,111,139,69,2744,36356,26890,9214,1516,6100,165,10510,4576,17708],"class_list":["post-155787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-after","tag-beauty","tag-been","tag-business","tag-clinic","tag-clinics","tag-closure","tag-dispute","tag-for","tag-franchise","tag-have","tag-into","tag-laser","tag-left","tag-liquidation","tag-members","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pay","tag-pocket","tag-ponsonby","tag-put","tag-staff","tag-still","tag-their","tag-waiting","tag-work","tag-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}