Philippine Honestbee staff allegedly owed salaries for almost 2 months

At least 10 Honestbee staff in the Philippines have not been paid since the second half of September, a source close to the situation told Tech in Asia.

While the embattled startup no longer serves the market, it maintains a team in Manila to support operations in its Singapore headquarters.

An Honestbee shopper in action

According to the source, the management has attributed the delay to a lack of a clear handover process following the departure of the previous HR personnel.

However, the source added that the Philippine team’s salary information is accessible through the internal HR system, which was handed over to the management.

When asked for comment, an Honestbee spokesperson said that the 10 employees were hired by the company as part of a back office team. “We are currently assessing the appropriate treatment of these employees,” the spokesperson said.

“Honestbee Philippines released a notice of temporary labor suspension on June 19. In accordance with the Philippines’ Labor Code, Honestbee Philippines implemented a temporary suspension of its employees. Although the Philippines suspended its grocery and food delivery operations on April 20, furloughed employees were fully compensated until July,” the spokesperson added.

Honestbee has been paying its former employees their owed salaries in five installments. The second tranche was paid on October 30. It currently has 241 employees, down from a peak of over a thousand.

The company has been working towards a relaunch. It’s updating its app interface, payments system BeePay, and its in-store checkout system.