Liz Purtell (left) and Sharon Brown outside a Millers store that closed in January. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Two Griffith women who gave a voice to thousands of retail workers left out of pocket by the collapse of fashion empire Mosaic Brands will chronicle their experience on SBS TV documentary show Dateline.
Liz Purtell and Sharon Brown had worked for women’s clothing store Autograph in Griffith Plaza for a combined 42 years until it unexpectedly shut its doors in October 2024. Some nine months later, the pair is still waiting for thousands of dollars owed to them in unpaid long-service leave, annual leave and redundancy pay entitlements.
“I put in so many extra hours over the 27 years,” former manager Liz Purtell said.
“When it was time to go home at the end of the day, I often stayed and kept working, even though I wasn’t getting paid. But when the store closed, I got nothing. Not even a thank you.”
Their store closure was due to parent company Mosaic Brands going into administration, owing $250 million to creditors.
Mosaic’s other outlets, Katies, Rivers, Rockmans, Crossroads, W.Lane, BeMe, Millers and Noni B all gradually shut their stores during the first few months of 2025 – leaving 2800 mostly female employees out of a job and wondering whether they’d ever be paid their entitlements.
Ms Purtell and Ms Brown spoke out about this injustice in a series of Region articles.
“It’s not so bad for Liz and I, but there were women on a single income in the Wagga store who were left with nothing, which is just devastating,” Ms Brown said.
“We had to give all the women [who were wronged] a voice.”
Liz worked at Autograph between 1997 and 2024. Photo: Supplied.
SBS TV producers noticed Region’s articles, so they contacted the Griffith duo to do a wide-ranging show chronicling the Mosaic Brands collapse – which reverberated from factories in Bangladesh to retailers all over Australia.
On Thursday and Friday, Dateline presenter Calliste Weitenberg visited the Riverina town and interviewed both women.
“They interviewed us for hours, it was exhausting. They filmed us in the old Millers store in Griffin Plaza. I’d be interested to see how they all piece it together,” Ms Purtell said.
“They went over the memories of working at Autograph – from the early glory days when we used to do fashion parades to more recent times when we noticed how things were going bad.
“We saw the decline, we saw other stores closing and were awaiting our turn. We felt as if we were on the chopping block.”
In February 2025, the Albanese Federal Government announced it would intervene to ensure workers owed entitlements were paid under the Fair Entitlement Guarantee (FEG), a taxpayer-funded safety net scheme that provides financial assistance to those who have lost their jobs through company bankruptcy and are not paid what they are owed.
“Albo must have heard us whingeing,” Ms Purtell joked.
Some workers who have spoken to Region have since been paid their entitlements through the FEG, though Ms Purtell and Ms Brown, who applied through FEG five weeks ago, are still waiting for payment.
“As at 29 May, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) has paid 621 former Mosaic Brands Group employees their outstanding entitlements through FEG,” a DEWR spokesperson said.
“The department is assessing 780 Mosaic Brands Group claims. Most of these claims were submitted within the last eight weeks.
“The department continues to work closely with the receivers for Mosaic Brands Group to enable FEG claims to be processed as quickly as possible.
“The department aims to gather data and assess FEG claims within 14 weeks from the time of receipt of an effective claim. However, this process can take longer if the claim is complex, or if more information or evidence is required to assess the claim.”
The Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA), which lobbied the government for the FEG intervention, is also helping workers with the process.
Dateline, a show celebrating its 40th year, airs on SBS at 9:30 pm every Tuesday. It is not known when the show featuring the Griffith duo will air but it’s expected to be in July or August.
