Flyers asking former staff of embattled MasterChef judge George Calombaris to call a free phone line for free legal advice have begun sprouting around Melbourne.
The flyers, part of a campaign by union-run shop Young Workers Centre, appear to have reached a number of furious employees with multiple tabs already ripped off.
The A4 pieces of paper feature a blown up photo of Mr Calombaris’ head with the words, ‘Does this guy owe you money?’ surrounding his face in bold text.
It follows revelations that 162 underpaid staff from three of the chef’s restaurants will allegedly have to wait up to a year for $2.6 million in wages to be paid.
Flyers advertising free legal advice for former employees of George Calombaris have been taped around Melbourne following the businessman ‘stalling’ in paying them what they are owed
Young Workers Centre claims Mr Calombaris owes about $16,000 each to up to 200 former employees.
Some of who had clearly leapt at the offer of free, confidential legal advice.
The campaign was in response to news of Mr Calombaris ‘stalling’ making payments to employees of his company, Made Establishments, until June 2018, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Multiple tabs had already been ripped from the poster on Friday evening, with them hung on Thursday in locations near Mr Calombaris’ establishments
YWC said its campaign begun on Thursday, with them hanging up flyers in areas they believed Mr Calombaris’ unpaid employees were likely to see them.
‘We’ve placed the posters in strategic locations around Calombaris’ Melbourne restaurants in order to reach as many workers as possible,’ Media and Communications Organiser Amy Fitzgerald said.
‘We want workers to know that having to wait more than 12 months in order to receive the money they’re entitled to under law is unreasonable and unacceptable.’
The flyers state the man owes about $16,000 each to up to 200 former employees
Ms Fitzegerald said the YWC were all too familiar with the importance of being paid fairly.
‘As young workers ourselves, we know that $16,000 (the average repayment owed to each worker) can be a life changing amount of money,’ she said.
Mr Calombaris was forced to apologise earlier in the year after he underpaid his restaurant staff, understandably leaving former staff angry at him and his business partner Radek Sali.
‘We want workers to know that having to wait more than 12 months in order to receive the money they’re entitled to,’ Ms Fitzegerald from the Young Workers Centre said
In a recent letter to staff, the Masterchef star’s chief executive, Troy McDonagh, announced that the company had not met it’s deadline to submit their internal audit to the Fair Work Ombudsman in April.
The company said it had spent $2.6 million to compensate 160 current employees.
In the letter he said: ‘Whilst we have made significant progress in our investigations and in compensating former employees, the total number of individual investigations we have taken to properly and accurately assess each claim is substantially greater than what we first anticipated.’
Mr McDonagh added that the company will continue to keep the Ombudsman and former staff informed of what was happening and their payments.
Employees will reportedly have to wait until June 2018, which has left former staff angry at the millionaire TV chef and his business partner Radek Sali
‘We are absolutely committed to ensuring people receive all the payments they are entitled to under the Award,’ he added.
Meanwhile, a disgruntled employee told the publication: ‘These guys are millionaires. It was their fault, they admitted to it, and now they want us to wait. This may not be a lot of money to them, but it’s a fortune for me.’
An FWO spokesman said they do not believe the former workers need to wait that long to recieve the money that is owed to them.
George Calombaris’ chief executive, Troy McDonagh (left) said, ‘We are absolutely committed to ensuring people receive all the payments they are entitled to under the Award,’ (pictured right Radek Sali)
This also comes after the TV chef banned himself from attending A-League matches following his assault at the A-League grand final in Sydney earlier this year.
The Melbourne-based personality will have to wait another six weeks to be sentenced over the attack, where he allegedly assaulted a 19-year-old man.
He was in Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court on Friday as a magistrate ordered further documents before sentencing can be arranged.
But outside court, he revealed that he has decided to punish himself by not going to any matches for the next year.
Not happy: A disgruntled employee told the publication: ‘These guys are millionaires. It was their fault, they admitted to it, and now they want us to wait. This may not be a lot of money to them, but it’s a fortune for me’