Controversial MasterChef judge George Calombaris has been hit with a $200,000 fine after admitting to underpaying staff at several of his Melbourne restaurants by a staggering nearly $8 million.
WATCH George Calombaris open up about his role on MasterChef:
The 40-year-old’s Made Establishment company has been subject to a four-year investigation by The Fair Work Ombudsman after more than 500 current and former employees at George’s Hellenic Republic, The Press Club, Gazi and his Jimmy Grants’ restaurants were underpaid by $7.83 million.
As a result, the celebrity chef has agreed to make the “contrition payment and become an ambassador for the Fair Work Ombudsman with a series of “speaking engagements to educate the restaurant industry on the importance of workplace compliance”.
During the investigation it was discovered that George’s restaurants had failed to pay staff minimum award rates, overtime and other allowances – and had also not kept sufficient records of hours worked by staff on an annualised basis, leading to significant underpayment of overtime and penalty rate hours.
In statement following the ruling, Made Establishment said: “The incorrect payments were identified by Made during a review in early 2017, following a change in ownership and management.
“After an investigation, the FWO confirmed Made’s finding that employees had been incorrectly classified and underpaid due to incorrect processes and failures within its payroll and human resources functions.”
“All current Made team members have been correctly classified, and all entitlements verified as owing to current and past employees have been calculated and paid, with a handful of claims now being finalised,” Made Group chief executive Leigh Small added.
“Since changing ownership, we have introduced a new CEO, a new people and culture director and new processes and procedures to ensure we’re not only complying with workplace relations laws but actively promoting a culture of employee wellbeing.
“We look forward to continuing to grow our business and providing all team members with the tools, education and environment to succeed in their careers for years to come.”
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