Celebrity chef Adrian Richardson forced to top up staff pay

Another top chef has run into trouble breaching Fair Work Laws.

This one is Adrian Richardson, star of Ten's Good Chef Bad Chef.

Several disgruntled staff at his Carlton North restaurant, La Luna Bistro, went to the Fair Work Commission and got reimbursed after Richardson failed to pay correct entitlements including weekend penalty rates.

A spokesman from the Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed there had been several enquiries from staff employed by La Luna Bistro Pty Ltd.

"The Fair Work Ombudsman has been assisting these workers. We cannot make further comment at this stage" the spokesman told Fairfax Media.

According to Fairfax Media, one La Luna employee was repaid up to $10,000. She had been routinely denied basic entitlements. But to get the reimbursement, she had to sign a non-disclosure contract avoiding negative publicity.

One unidentified kitchen hand was paid a flat-rate of $14 an hour for more than six months, after he started working there as an 18 year old.

"I went to Fair Work and found out I should be getting about $21. They [management at La Luna] claimed it was mistake and agreed to give me back pay,” the kitchen hand told Fairfax Media.

As a result, he was reimbursed $3165 for underpayments over a 12-month period. He has since left the restaurant.

Still, Mr Richardson is in good company.

A number of high profile kitchen celebrities have had difficulties meeting the country’s Fair Work laws.

These include George Calombaris who recently repaid $2.6 million to more than 160 staff. He had underpaid 162 of the 430 staff at restaurants including The Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic which are part of the chef's Made Establishment Group.

And Ronnie Di Stasio had to pay $35,000 to six foreign workers found to have been worked underpaid at his Cafe Di Stasio in St Kilda.

by Leon Gettler, April 19^th 2017