FairWork Melbourne: restaurant allegedly underpaid staff thousands

A popular restaurant in Melbourne’s north is under fire for allegedly owing thousands of dollars to ex-staff, mostly young people starting their working life.

Ex-staff of a Melbourne restaurant who say they were significantly underpaid have taken their claims to FairWork.

A restaurant in Melbourne’s north could be forced to shell out thousands of dollars to ex-staff, who allege they have been severely underpaid.

The allegations, which range from chronic underpayment, demands to work multiple free trial shifts, and a failure to pay superannuation, are made by at least eight former staff and total more than $30,000 in owed wages, Leader can reveal.

Last week a number of ex-staff made formal requests for reimbursement to the business — a step that is advised by FairWork before a formal investigation can take place.

One week has now passed since the demands were made, and in e-mails seen by Leader, staff used FairWork’s PACT wage calculator, in combination with their pay slips from the period, to evidence the discrepancy between their earnings and what they were entitled to.

One staff member told the business they were owed $8578.

The employee, who began working for the restaurant as a 15-year-old, said her pay slips showed she was paid $12 per hour during the week and just over $13 an hour on the weekend.

PACT calculations reveal she was being paid as little as half of what she was owed, she alleges.

Another former employee, who briefly managed the restaurant, said she was owed $7731.

She said after working roughly six hours of unpaid “trial shifts” her wage began at $15 per hour, when PACT calculations reveal her entitled wage to be $23 per hour, she alleges.

Leader has seen text messages between restaurant managers at the time, which require hopeful workers to complete a three-hour unpaid trial shift before being interviewed.

An another employee told the business last week that her pay slips reveal that there was “no evidence” superannuation was paid into her account in certain months.

The business declined to respond to questions.