Photo Credit: Moby Instagram
Moby shuttered his Los Angeles vegan eatery, Little Pine, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now his employees are left scrambling.
Little Pine closed on March 15th as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and forced store closures. But Little Pine employees have taken to social media to express their displeasure with how the situation has been handled. In a report from Eater, multiple employees say Moby is mostly unresponsive to questions about employment and issues like health insurance.
Employees say Moby only reached out to them once the social media blowback began. They say they were only told this week that the restaurant was going on “indefinite hiatus.” That’s more than a month after the restaurant closed officially, with no plans to adopt takeout or delivery. Healthcare coverage for all full-time employees was also canceled.
“I am coverage-less in the middle of a global pandemic,” one former employee told Eater. “My health care has been canceled by a multi-millionaire.” The Little Pine Instagram account shut off comments after the news broke.
On Instagram, Little Pine addressed the issue in a less than stellar way. “Lately, we have been receiving a lot of very hostile comments about how Little Pine was put on hiatus,” the post begins. “We have tried to do the right thing and paid our managers, employees, vendors, and insurance. We are, again, like most restaurants, seriously in debt.”
“All we ever wanted was to be a good vegan restaurant and serve our community and generate money for the animal rights non-profits we love. And now, not only have we been forced to shut down, but we are on the verge of bankruptcy while being viciously attacked by countless strangers,” the post finishes.
One comment refuted the claims made by the account.
“I am not a stranger,” the comment read before being removed. “I’ve worked at Little Pine since it opened and helped to build the restaurant to what it was. Moby absolutely left us all high and dry.”
Moby founded Little Pine in 2015 as a way to donate and support animal rights groups.
It employed fewer than 50 people and is not legally mandated to pay sick leave under the new federal emergency coronavirus relief law.
After so many musicians declaring bankruptcy since the fans all want free music, how do these people know that this guy is a “multi-millionaire” – even the Beatles weren’t millionaires towards the end of that band!
He is worth 40 million dollars. He has made millions in real estate and own 4 houses.
So what? It doesn’t mean he is personally responsible for others. He can do what he likes with his earned money.
That said, sure, having wealth, it would be nice if he would help others that have helped him build his wealth.
Be nice? We have an obligation to take care of each other in a civilized society. We all know though that America is no longer a civilized country. Fix that shit and take care of each other.
So much for a healthy-eating restaurant looking out for the health of its employees. Communication is the backbone of any business relationship… there is no reason employees should have to resort to public social media to hear about their employment status much less discuss compensation questions. Biz owners have an obligation to the employees… and even 50 phone calls over all this time is not impossible. The bankruptcy filing should include a process for letting go of employees & paying what is owed. The biz insurance claim filing should too.
It’s not Moby’s job to go broke so you can keep a job that doesn’t exist anymore. Get real. He’s a millionaire because he worked his ass off creating value, not inheritance. You can file unemployment. Whiners.
He refused to pay their accrued sick time. And he’s worth forty million dollars. I don’t think shelling out a few grand to his minimum wage workers would have broken his bank.
It wouldn’t have broken his bank, but he (as an individual) is not responsible. Just as anyone who is a wealthy shareholder in Disney, for example, isn’t responsible for their furloughed workers. The restaurant is a company.
Just an all around crappy situation. Restaurants are a brutal business category in ‘normal’ times, sadly restaurants had almost no time to prepare for a full-blown shutdown order, and have no ability to project how long it’s going to last. Governments (including the State of CA) had nearly zero preparation for this, despite months of awareness of the risk, and still have no testing infrastructure or method for keeping employees on the payroll. PPP is a disaster, I wouldn’t be surprised if Moby applied but has not even received a response.
He just sold his NYC apartment for six million dollars.
This isn’t Moby’s fault!
It’s not his job to do what a functional, basic government is supposed to do.
Moby could not do the basic preparations a government needed to do to prevent this exact situation (starting in JANUARY). Ask yourself: why are there NO tests, not enough hospital beds, ventillators, or any basic things in the richest country in the WORLD? Where was the fucking government that takes 39% of taxes from guys like MOBY? Why didn’t they hand some of that money BACK to help save the employees he fired.
Leave Moby alone and start calling out the real criminals here. And YES they should go to jail for this.
In this case, yes it is his fault. Your digressing from the issue. He promised and owed accrued pay to his staff and told them very tersely they weren’t getting it. On top of that, he didn’t show thanks for everything this amazing staff did to make his restaurant what it is! He’s not a good human to humans. Never really has been.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.dwell.com/amp/article/el-dorado-co-op-penthouse-manhattan-real-estate-ec33b165
Wait—I thought only republicans were selfish and greedy pricks. That’s what CNN says, so I am sure it is truth.
Another idiotic comment from you. No, that’s not what CNN says. It isn’t what Fox or Al Jazeera or BBC say, either.
Hey, at least you’re consistent with your ignorance.