Former Genesis employee says “management gave us a false sense of security”
In an interview with SiGMA News, a former employee of Genesis Global Limited who declined to be identified shared a personal account of events as they unfolded. This marks the third week since employees of Genesis Global were terminated without notice by the company.
I was employed by Genesis Global and worked at the Malta office with a great team of colleagues.
At the end of January 2021, the company received a fine from the UK gambling regulator of £3.8 million. At this point things started to go downhill.
As a result of this management asked us to work on migration to transfer data and all casino brands from Genesis Global to Genesis Bluebird. This meant that during the transition the company would be able to offer a seamless service to customers as Genesis Bluebird.
The summer was very normal. The company hosted a number of parties for us. Ariel told us that there were rumours that we would be merging with another company.
The first sign that something was really wrong was in November when we noticed that the office building was being advertised on the rental market. Everyone started to ask questions. Some of us panicked. We were advised that this was an interim situation until company matters were resolved and we were requested to start working from home. Ariel never told us anything else.
During the period that we were working remotely we were paid for the month of November. This gave us a false sense of security as we thought things may start to settle down and we awaited for new instructions from management. Vacant positions were advertised by the company on social media. We believed things may get back to normal. We thought that we were going to get some sort of update at that stage but management remained uncommunicative.
As we approached December, the relationship with management started to become awkward. The situation was shady. We all spoke amongst each other through a group chat and we suspected that something suspicious was going on. The Genesis Global website was taken down. A number of employees and heads of department resigned and they were not replaced.
On 6 December our CEO Ariel Reem left without giving us any previous notice. It was a shock to all of us. Yoav Dotan took over from Ariel as CEO but he was also not able to give us any further information and was as much in the dark as we were.
On 23 December we were advised that our December salaries would not be paid. We were terminated without the Christmas government bonus or any accrued holiday entitlement. We were aware of our basic rights. On the same day we discovered that we had no access to our emails and our ‘log ins’ no longer worked.
The website was still functioning and players were depositing cash but unable to make withdrawals. We were unable to provide customer service and support. The spanish market was taken care of from Malta. Many emails were received from angry clients as they could not withdraw their cash. At one point there must have been more than 3000 emails waiting for responses. Some clients may have been paid I believe.
We were told that the company closure was the decision of the owner in Australia. His name is Yaniv Meydan. We never met or saw him during the time we worked at Genesis. I believe this was a case of gross mismanagement.
The company owe us a lot of money. Personally it is very hard for me as I have loans and many commitments. We filed a complaint and made a claim with the Malta Department of Industrial and Employment Relations (DIER) but so far we have not heard back from them.
We have engaged a local lawyer to represent us. There are approximately 110 of us. We have a group chat and try our best to help and support each other. Luckily I have found a job but some of my former colleagues who are still searching for work.
I wish to remain anonymous and thank you for sharing our story to raise awareness about our difficult situation.”
