Vue Group employees say they lost tips if they broke things or failed tests

Celebrity chef Shannon Bennett’s Vue Group is in the news again with ex-employees saying their share of tip money was regularly confiscated by managers — for breakages, being late to work, or getting answers wrong in a so-called "tip test”.

The ex-employees are speaking up after reports of widespread underpayment at the Vue Group, including its flagship restaurant Vue de Monde.

The Fair Work Ombudsman is now investigating these claims.

The ex-employees are now going further and saying they were not only underpaid but managers regularly took the tip money they they relied on to supplement their incomes.

A former waiter, who gave her name only as Sally and who quit Vue de Monde earlier this year, said it was unfair.

"It just felt like they were trying any way to get rid of our tips," Sally told the ABC.

"Most of the tips went to the managers. If we came in one minute late, they took our tips.”

Internal emails requiring staff to take the "tip test" and confirming the restaurant had a three-strike system for late arrivals, with the loss of a week's tips as the penalty have been sighted by the ABC.

Brandon Difiglio, who was a chef at Vue Group from 2013 to 2015 and a chef at Bistro Vue until 2012 and who now works in Los Angeles says he was penalised after a shelf broke.

"I can remember going into the cool room. I took something off a shelf, and the whole shelf fell down," Jamie told the ABC.

In a statement to the ABC, Vue Group confirmed that a "small percentage" of tip money is allocated to cover the cost of breakages.

It said this was "in accordance with standard industry practice".

But it did respond to questions about the "tip test" or the "three strikes" for being late to work.

Leon Getler 21st May 2018.