Vue de monde staff say they were underpaid

Vue de monde, one of Melbourne’s most prestigious restaurants has been accused of underpaying staff who say they worked up to 30 hours of unpaid overtime each week.

That, they say, left their pay packets short by hundreds of dollars.

The allegations were raised by ABC Radio which says it talked to six staff members who worked at Vue Group's flagship restaurant, and the now-closed Cafe Vue on St Kilda Road, between 2009 and this year.

The Vue Group has denied the allegations and, in a statement to the ABC, said the claims were "absolutely incorrect".

The Vue Group says staff were "at times rostered to do reasonable overtime".

But a former chef at the now-closed Cafe Vue on St Kilda Road, who gave his name only as Alex, said he would often work up to 80 hours a week for 40 hours' pay, leaving him underpaid by around $500 a week.

Another staff member, who went by the name of Karen but did not want to use her real name, said current staff were expected to put in unpaid overtime.

She resigned because she was no longer able to cope with working long hours for no extra pay.

"When we were very short-staffed, people were working upwards of 70 hours [a week]," she told ABC Radio Melbourne's Rafael Epstein.

She said the business had recently put in new electronic system requiring staff to record their start and finish times with their fingerprints.

She said that over a two-week period, she had logged 24 hours of overtime. But her weekly pay packet never changed, she said

"They think it is OK because at the end of the day the customers don't have complaints," Karen told the ABC.

"But it doesn't work for us because we're exhausted."

Vue de monde was established by celebrity chef Shannon Bennett in 2000. His is one of four directors of Vue Group, which includes Vue de monde.

Leon Getler 9th April 2018.