Crafts store Spotlight has come under fire after a complaint about unpaid wages blew up overnight.
In a Reddit post purportedly from a former part-time employee at the Plaza Singapura outlet, Ghoulninjaband said management had failed to pay wages and fostered a toxic work environment.
“[P]ls dont support spotlight. [U]p until now my friend and [I] are still waiting for our final salary,” read the post in the Singapore subreddit, which had garnered over 1,500 upvotes as of publication time.
The post also complained that the store arbitrarily changed prices of sale items from week to week and described senior staff as “rude” and uncaring of their employees.
“Spotlight prices are expensive and whack as well, and [you] are never guaranteed what price you may be buying the item at on different weeks. [A]nd the (Department Team Leader) are so rude smh (sic), and [there’s nothing] we can do because the in charge of [S]potlight in [S]ingapore does not give a fk either (sic).”
Spotlight, which has two stores in Singapore, has not commented publicly on the accusations.
A store representative answering the phone at its Plaza Singapura outlet declined to comment for this story when Coconuts called today. Neither the Manpower Ministry nor Ghoulninjaband immediately replied to messages seeking comment.
After this story was published, Spotlight Singapore manager Richard Mayne reached out to deny the store has a toxic work culture.
“[W]e reject their accusations in regards to a toxic work culture as we always strive constantly to please our employees and customers here in Singapore,” he said in a written message.
In the online complaint, Ghoulninjaband alleged that the company had not paid wages and then stonewalled workers who threatened to go to the manpower authorities, or MOM.
“[H]e has not gotten his DECEMBER pay yet, and neither have [I]. [T]hey claimed to have forgotten to pay him during the month of [J]anuary and said will pay us on [F]ebruary,” the post said.
“[F]ast forward to [F]eb now, my friend texted the DTL (department team leader) that if his pay is not credited, he will report it to MOM. [N]eedless to say, our DTL was super rude to him and taunted him to proceed and go ahead, while she will report it to the HR too,” it added.
Mayne said the store had delayed wages of a week and not a month due to an “error” in its payroll system. He said only several hours of wages were owed, and they would be paid by Friday.
“The individual behind this post, we believe, was an employee who worked with us for a short period and abandoned employment without notice in January. We acknowledged that we owe this ex-employee not more than 5hours pay which should be paid by today, or latest by 26th as stated in the union agreement,” Mayne said in a written message
Update: This story was updated with a response from Spotlight Singapore.
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