Lavish nightclub didn’t pay penalty rates for 14 years   
Financial Review
Jan 12, 2022

A major Brisbane hospitality group and owner of the city’s ritzy Cloudland nightclub is facing a huge jump in wage costs after being ordered to pay penalty rates to its hundreds of staff for the first time in 14 years.

Katarzyna Group, owned by the so-called “godfather of Fortitude Valley” Louis Bickle, has been legally paying its workforce $5 to $26 an hour less than the award minimum on weekends, late nights and public holidays since 2008 under a WorkChoices “zombie agreement”.


Ritzy Brisbane nightclub Cloudland was found to have been paying under the award minimum for late nights, weekends and public holidays since 2008.

But this week the Fair Work Commission gave the company three weeks to revert its venues to the award, saying the cost hike was the company’s burden to bear.

The venues include the Cloudland nightspot, which boasts extravagant private lounges and VIP dining experiences, Press Club, Empire Hotel and function facility the Warehouse.

The pay deal, which was made with Bickle entity Empire Holdings (Qld) and expired in 2011, came undone when frustrated employees applied to the commission to have the agreement terminated.



General manager Paul Janssen pushed to delay termination until at least May this year, arguing the group’s venues had booked in 154 weddings for the next 12 months as well as balls, award nights and corporate events that they could not increase the price for.

Commissioner Jennifer Hunt dismissed the request due to the agreement’s “significantly less beneficial terms and conditions” and gave the company until January 31 to shift to the new pay rates.

“While the employer will have to experience an increased wages bill, particularly with functions pre-paid and the employer’s stated preparedness to not increase charges to customers of those functions, I consider that the burden should rest with the employer when compared with the loss to employees of substantial hourly rates for work on weekends and public holidays,” she said.

‘The clock is ticking’
Under the deal, casual bar workers were paid a flat hourly rate of $28 – about 80¢ more than the award base rate – while earning no extra for working Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays, which under the award would have secured them $32.58, $38.01 and $53.40 an hour respectively.

Venues closed at 3am, but staff were not paid more for working the late nights, which under the award attract an extra $2.37 to $3.55 an hour.

The company had offered to pay $50 an hour for working this past Christmas and New Year’s but refused to commit to paying staff more for Easter if the agreement was allowed to continue.




Employees complained the company was large enough to afford the new wages immediately, given it had just opened a new rooftop venue, Valley Hops Brewing, at a time when many other businesses couldn’t afford to stay open.

“Myself and I’m sure many other employees would agree, that we would rather be spending time with family than working a job that doesn’t pay fairly,” one employee told the commission. “We deserve to be paid the industry award wages.”

Commissioner Hunt said employees were becoming increasingly aware of “zombie agreements” that denied them penalty rates, and the company should not have been surprised when it faced a termination application.

“If employers are enjoying a comparative benefit in reduced wages by application of very old agreements, which do not provide for penalty rates near-equivalent to the modern award that would otherwise apply, the clock is essentially ticking for those agreements,” she said.

She rejected the suggestion that the venue bookings militated against the loss of wages for the 200-person workforce, and held three weeks was enough time to make the “significant” change to the award.

Travis Bickle might have to sell one of his luxurious properties to pay the staff then - what about back pay?

Judging from the company name - I'd say some form of Russkie mobster...