People Are Calling On ‘MasterChef’ To Fire George Calombaris After Latest Wage Theft Scandal

More than 20,000 people have signed a petition calling on MasterChef to fire celebrity chef George Calombaris, after last week’s revelation that his restaurants underpaid staff by more than $7.5 million dollars.

Back in 2017, Calombaris’ company MAdE Establishment self-reported underpayments to staff at several of its restaurants, estimating that 162 workers had been underpaid around $2.6 million. At the time, Calombaris apologised and MAdE announced that “all entitlements owed to the 162 current and past employees have been calculated and were paid today”.

Last week, though, following a lengthy Fair Work investigation, Calombaris admitted to underpaying 515 current and former employees by $7.83 million, revealing that the problem was actually much, much bigger than initially thought.

MaDE has been required to pay back the $7.83 million owed to workers. In addition, the company has been fined $200,000, which many think is too low.

“A fine of $200,000 is nowhere near enough — that’s less than three per cent of what he took,” Orlaith Belfrage, a former worker at Calombaris’ restaurant Hellenic Republic, pointed out. “George is seen as having a leadership role in this industry, and he has built that reputation off taking wages from his workers. George has never really taken responsibility for this.”

“George should pay a serious price for this massive theft of workers’ wages. He should be taken off MasterChef. How many more excuses does George get?”

On a scale of one to 10 how inadequate is George Calombaris's punishment? pic.twitter.com/4uKVvYqFSJ

— The AMWU (@theamwu) July 18, 2019

Jo-anne Schofield, the National Secretary of hospitality union United Voice agreed, saying that the union is “truly shocked at the full extent of wage theft at MAdE Establishment.”

“For the seriousness of this crime, a $200,000 fine is not sufficient,” Schofield said. “If someone deliberately took $1000 out of someone else’s bank account, there would be a high likelihood of a criminal conviction for theft. But when you’re a multimillionaire restaurateur/celebrity chef you can take $7.83 million in wages from your workers and get away with a ‘contrition payment’.”

Belfrage has started a petition calling on Network 10 to fire Calombaris from his position on MasterChef, and more than 20,000 people have signed it so far. Meanwhile, workers claiming to have been underpaid by Calombaris are still coming forward, suggesting that the underpayment scandal may not be quite finished yet.