Adriano Zumbo accused of underpaying workers
Yet another celebrity chef has been accused of ripping off workers.
This time it’s famed pastry chef Adriano Zumbo.
Channel 9’s A Current Affair has run allegations saying former MasterChef star Zumbo’s company 611 Pty Ltd failed to pay some of its employees superannuation, claimed to have paid money into accounts that don’t exist, fabricated policy numbers and failed to pay overtime.
The show presented superannuation accounts under Host Plus that were fabricated.
And there were dodgy account numbers such as 123456789.
“On my pay slip, to Host Super it says that my policy number is 123456789. and I’m being paid out of my pay every week,” a former worker of Zumbo’s company named Samantha told the program,
“There’s money being taken. So where’s my money going?
“What are you doing with my super? And why I haven’t I been paid when I’ve been working there for the last seven months?”
Another employee identified only as JB told the program he was not only not paid. He claims he was also given a fake superannuation account number.
“I was working as a baker and managing all the team onto orders and everything,” he said.
“I spent five months in the kitchen and it became worse, and worse, and worse.
“In January, they just decided not to pay overtime. Just like this.”
“They told us, ‘We don’t pay overtime but we will pay you the normal rate.’”
Zumbo subsequently issued a statement saying a number of discrepancies had been identified after a new overtime system was introduced into the business.
“I have personally taken steps to rectify all back pay issues of which I am currenly [sic] aware. My expectation and intention is that all outstanding superannuation and the majority of outstanding overtime will be paid as of close of business on 2 May 2017, with the remaining payments to be made over the course of the next 24 to 48 hours,” the statement said.
“I confirm that an audit of the payroll system of the business has been commenced and is ongoing. I instigated that audit having learnt about the discrepancies referred to above, in order to identify whether there have been any other issues in the payment of my staff, whose hard work I value enormously. In the event that audit identifies any other discrepancies in payments to staff, those matters will be remedied as soon as possible.
“It saddens me to learn that some of my current and former staff did not share their apparent concerns relating to their working conditions with me or our HR department. It seems those staff shared these concerns for the first time with ACA. Had we been aware of these concerns, our HR team and I would have been available to assist those staff members in the satisfactory resolution of their concerns.”
The allegations come after the business run by Melbourne restaurateur, George Calombaris, Made Establishment, had underpaid its employees a total of $2.6 million.
by Leon Gettler, May 4th 2017
