WAGES – RESTAURANTS – AUSTRALIA

Perry’s Rockpool chain cheated its staff out of $10m

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Original article by Tessa Akerman
The Australian – Page: 3 : 25-Oct-19

Maurice Blackburn’s principal lawyer Josh Bornstein has described allegations that Rockpool Dining Group underpaid its staff as one of the "most egregious cases of wage theft" in Australian history. The law firm has submitted a complaint to the Fair Work Ombudsman on behalf of the Hospo Voice union; amongst other things, it alleges that the restaurant group altered employees’ timesheets to show that they worked for just 38 hours a week, when some in fact are said to have worked for up to 100 hours a week. Bornstein says the FWO should seek the maximum penalty against Rockpool, given that it has acknowledged that the penalty against celebrity chef George Calombari for wage underpayment was too light.

CORPORATES
ROCKPOOL DINING GROUP, MAURICE BLACKBURN PTY LTD, HOSPO VOICE, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, MADE ESTABLISHMENT PTY LTD

At $200k, celebrity chef got off lightly

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 22-Jul-19

Attorney-General Christian Porter says that amongst other things, the federal government’s review of the industrial relations system will look at whether the penalties for underpaying wages are sufficient. He says many Australians would agree with his opinion that the $200,000 fine to be paid by celebrity chef George Calombaris was lenient. More than 500 employees at Calombaris’s restaurants were collectively underpaid some $7.8 million over six years. The ‘MasterChef’ judge says the majority have now received backpay.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. ATTORNEY-GENERAL’S DEPT, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY

Celebrity chef underpayments triple to $7.8m

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 19-Jul-19

The Made Establishment restaurant business of celebrity chef George Calombaris will pay staff more than $7.8 million in back pay under an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman. The amount is more than triple the $2.6 million that Made Establishment had estimated in 2017 that it might owe, while it will also pay a fine of $200,000. Unions have criticised the modest fine, while Hospo Voice union leader Orlaith Belfrage, who worked for Calombaris’s Hellenic Republic restaurant, says he should be taken off reality-TV program ‘Masterchef’.

CORPORATES
MADE ESTABLISHMENT PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, HOSPO VOICE

Restaurants, cafes back retail call for pay freeze

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Simone Fox Koob
The Australian – Page: 5 : 15-Mar-18

The restaurant and catering industry association has voiced its support for the National Retail Association’s call for the minimum wage to be left unchanged in 2018. Its submission to the Fair Work Commission argues that a rise in the minimum wage cannot be justified given the current economic conditions. The Australian Retailers Association has proposed increasing the minimum wage by $A13.20 a week, in line with the inflation rate, while Master Grocers Australia has called for a rise of just $A7.20 a week.

CORPORATES
RESTAURANT AND CATERING INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, MASTER GROCERS’ AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ACTU, IGA, FOODWORKS SUPERMARKET GROUP LIMITED, BOTTLE-O, MITRE 10 LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY

Domino’s faces $35m higher wage bill

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Original article by David Marin-Guzman
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 5 : 2-Nov-17

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises will have to provide its 22,000-strong workforce with penalty rates after the Fair Work Commission terminated more than 20 enterprise agreements. The Retail & Fast Food Workers Union has estimated that Domino’s was saving between $A35m and $A50m a year by continuing to employ staff under the agreements, which had expired in 2005 and 2009. The FWC has given Domino’s until late January to shift employees to the industry award, but the fast-food chained has advised that it will introduce penalty rates in December.

CORPORATES
DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, RETAIL AND FAST FOOD WORKERS UNION INCORPORATED, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Union deals hit workers’ pay slips

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Original article by Ewin Hannan, Sofia Gronbech Wright
The Australian – Page: 1 & 6 : 4-Sep-17

Analysis by the Department of Employment suggests that workers in the retail and fast-food sectors would need to work for up to 50 hours during the week to offset the impact of lower Sunday penalty rates in union-backed enterprise agreements. Employment Minister Michaelia Cash says the analysis refutes claims by unions and the Australian Labor Party that workers are compensated for lower weekend penalty rates via higher hourly pay rates during the week. However, the Australian Industry Group has questioned the validity of the analysis.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF EMPLOYMENT, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, THE AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRY GROUP, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, DAVID JONES LIMITED, PIZZA HUT AUSTRALIA, McDONALD’S AUSTRALIA LIMITED, SHOP, DISTRIBUTIVE AND ALLIED EMPLOYEES’ ASSOCIATION

Delay likely for small business waiting on penalty rate trade-off

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Original article by Ewin Hannan
The Australian – Page: 4 : 1-Sep-17

A proposal to allow smaller retailers and fast-food restaurants to scrap penalty rates and overtime pay in return for a 25 per cent increase in base pay has the support of Council of Small Business Australia CEO Peter Strong. However, the Fair Work Commission is not expected to consider permitting a trial of "loaded rates" before the second half of 2018. Strong says unions and employers’ groups that represent large companies are likely to object to the proposal, as many such companies have already traded off Sunday penalty rates in their enterprise agreements.

CORPORATES
COUNCIL OF SMALL BUSINESS ORGANISATIONS OF AUSTRALIA LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, ACTU, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AEROCARE OPERATIONS PTY LTD, TRANSPORT WORKERS’ UNION

Ten new probes into Domino’s

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Original article by Mario Christodoulou
The Age – Page: 20 : 1-Jun-17

Domino’s Pizza Enterprises has advised that the scale of its internal investigation into wage fraud means a report on the probe will be released up to six months behind schedule. Meanwhile, the Fair Work Ombudsman has indicated that it is now carrying out 26 separate investigations into the underpayment of Domino’s employees. Domino’s CEO Don Meij said earlier in 2017 that about 2,400 employees had been underpaid over a period of three years.

CORPORATES
DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK OMBUDSMAN, AUSTRALIA. SENATE EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT LEGISLATION COMMITEE

Cowin’s fee solution to penalty rate stand-off

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 4 : 18-Dec-15

Australian businessman Jack Cowin has warned that industries such as hospitality will be forced to increase their prices unless weekend penalty rates are reduced. The founder of Hungry Jack’s argues that fast food restaurants and hotels will need to lift their prices if they have to keep paying people higher wages for doing the same job on weekends as on weekdays. Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers Association says lower penalty rates would enable retailers to employ more staff.

CORPORATES
HUNGRY JACK’S PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, DOMINO’S PIZZA ENTERPRISES LIMITED – ASX DMP, FAIRFAX MEDIA LIMITED – ASX FXJ, BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIAN GREENS