Guillaume Brahimi in hot French soup over underpayment allegations
Another week and another high profile chef is under fire for allegedly ripping off his employees.
French-born chef Guillaume Brahimi’s high-end restaurant business has allegedly substantially under-payed permanent staff through the excessive use of unpaid overtime, according to Fairfax Media.
The investigation has unearthed documents from Bistro Guillaume at Crown in Melbourne that show chefs were working as many as 60 hours a week, pushing their hourly rate to as low as little as $17.50 an hour, well below the minimum rate of the award.
The long work hours come despite chefs being paid for a 38-hour week. No overtime or penalty rates are paid and up to 20 to 30 hours a week of the work is unpaid, according to the investigation.
The restaurant said in a statement that it had never been its "intention" to underpay staff.
"This matter comes as a surprise to us and we have not received any complaints from our team," the restaurant stated. "As a business, we care for and respect all our employees. It has never been our intention at Bistro Guillaume to not remunerate our team appropriately."
Guillaume is highly regarded chef, notching up three hats for his Guillaume at Bennelong during its tenure at the Sydney Opera House. He now has Bistro Guillaumes in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Sheridan Randall, 22nd October 2018
