Employees accuse George Calombaris' Hellenic Republic restaurant of underpayment

George Calombaris' Hellenic Republic restaurant is again embroiled in accusations of underpayment.

This time a group of former waiters claim they've been underpaid and, they say,the business is refusing to pay them back.

Calombaris' MAdE Establishment group last year apologised to 162 employees for underpaying them. It gave them backpay totalling $2.6 million.

 Five former employees told the ABC they were paid at a lower rate than they were entitled to under the award. They say they were performing tasks at a higher grade than they were classified.

They have also provided the ABC with payslips and emails supporting their claims.

While some of the staff had been back paid, they are asking whether they had received everything they were owed.

One of them, former waiter Orlaith Belfrage, 25, claims she is owed $2,000 from her time working at the Brunswick East restaurant as a casual from March 2013 to May 2014. She claims she carried out a range of front-of-house duties, including waiting tables, working at the bar and serving customers.

"It was really great, they took me on and said they'd train me up as a waitress," she told the ABC.

"[There was] definitely loads of positive experiences. The training was great, we learnt loads about different wines, food, service."

It was only in February 2018 that a colleague alerted her to the fact that she was being paid at a lower pay rate than she was entitled to,

She says she was paid at a grade-one level for much of her employment but she claims her duties were a much higher level and included supervising staff.

She had emailed the MAdE Establishment several times since February this year, arguing she had been classified at the wrong level.

However, the company did not accept her claim, and replied: "Our records indicate that you were appropriately classified at the time of your employment."