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A former waiter at George Calombaris' restaurant says the Masterchef judge still owes her $2,000 and has started a petition to get him off the air
Union organiser and former waiter Orlaith Belfrage has accused celebrity chef George Calombaris and the company he founded, Made Establishment, of owing outstanding unpaid wages of $2,000.
Made Establishment claims to have "calculated and paid" all oustanding wages and super to ripped off workers after entering into an agreement with the Fair Work Ombudsman, ending an investigation into its wage theft.
A petition started by Belfrage and trade union Hospo Voice aims to remove Calombaris from his role as a co-host and judge on Network Ten reality TV hit Masterchef. The petition had attracted 4,709 signatures at the time of writing.
Who to believe?
George Calombaris, the celebrity chef whose restaurant empire has been found to have ripped off $7.8 million from workers and who previously was convicted of punching a teenager, says he has paid all outstanding dues to employees.
But Orlaith Belfrage, a former waiter at the Calombaris-owned Hellenic Republic and official at trade union Hospo Voice, says the company he founded, Made Establishment, still owes him $2,000.
Belfrage and Hospo Voice have started a petition to have Calombaris removed from his presumably-lucrative role as a co-host and judge on Network Ten reality TV hit Masterchef due to his role in a staff underpayment scandal which has seen him pay a $200,000 fine and agree to educate other restaurateurs on the "importance of workplace compliance". The petition had attracted 4,709 signatures at the time of writing.
In addition to the allegedly outstanding $2,000, Belfrage accused her former employer of not co-operating with the efforts of workers to seek recompense.
"George is seen as having a leadership role in this industry, and he has built that reputation off stealing wages from his workers," Belfrage said in a statement to Business Insider Australia.
"George should pay a serious price for this massive theft of workers’ wages. He should be taken off MasterChef. It’s also untrue that he has been cooperating. Workers have requested repeatedly that Calombaris hand over records so that they can recover their stolen wages and he has not provided them with the documents they need to recover their money."
Asked to respond to the claims, a spokesperson for Made Establishment told Business Insider Australia the case is closed.
“Made Establishment has taken particular care to ensure all affected employees, both current and former, have been fully compensated in accordance with the law," the spokesperson said. "We fully disclosed our calculations and payment methodology to the Fair Work Ombudsman, which has undertaken its own detailed assessments to ensure our affected employees have received their full entitlements."
A statement from Made Establishment issued earlier on Thursday said "all entitlements verified as owing to current and past employees have been calculated and paid".
Network Ten has made clear it is standing by the celebrity chef, with a spokesperson saying Calombaris has the channel's "support".
Calombaris is a founding shareholder of Made Establishment and was a director from 2008 to 2018. He has co-hosted Masterchef Australia since its first season in 2009.
