Inspectors uncovered a raft of breaches including a failure to pay minimum award rates, overtime and other allowances, with casual employees particularly affected. Made Establishment also failed to keep proper records of hours worked by staff on an annualised basis, leading to significant underpayment of overtime and penalty rate hours.
Under the agreement, Calombaris will be required to implement new payroll and compliance systems and each venue must be independently audited for the next three years.
Made Establishment has now back-paid more than A$7.83m to 515 current or former employees of Press Club, Gazi and Hellenic Republic for work between 2011 and 2017, and a further A$16,371 has been back-paid to nine employees of Jimmy Grants.
In a statement, Made Establishment confirmed it had entered into an enforceable undertaking with the Fair Work Ombudsman "after self-reporting incorrect payments of staff".
"The incorrect payments were identified by Made during a review in early 2017, following a change in ownership and management," the statement said.
"After an investigation, the FWO confirmed Made's finding that employees had been incorrectly classified and underpaid due to incorrect processes and failures within its payroll and human resources functions."
Made Group chief executive Leigh Small said all current team members were now correctly classified and new processes and procedures had been put in place.
"All current Made team members have been correctly classified, and all entitlements verified as owing to current and past employees have been calculated and paid, with a handful of claims now being finalised," he said.
"Since changing ownership, we have introduced a new CEO, a new people and culture director and new processes and procedures to ensure we're not only complying with workplace relations laws but actively promoting a culture of employee wellbeing.
"We look forward to continuing to grow our business and providing all team members with the tools, education and environment to succeed in their careers for years to come."
Calombaris apologised to all former and current staff affected and committed to playing his part in helping influence positive change in the hospitality industry.
"We apologise to all our affected team members, past and present — as it is our people that make our restaurants great, and it is our priority to ensure all of our employees feel respected, rewarded and supported in their roles," he said.
"We are committed to acting as a force for change in the industry and leading by example when it comes to building and promoting supportive, healthy and compliant hospitality workplaces."
Fair Work Ombudsman Sandra Parker said the enforceable undertaking would ensure improved wages and record-keeping practices were locked in at Made Group.
"The court-enforceable undertaking commits Made Establishment to stringent measures to ensure that current and future employees across their restaurant group are paid correctly," Parker said in a statement.
"Made's massive back-payment bill should serve as a warning to all employers that if they don't get workplace compliance right from the beginning, they can spend years cleaning up the mess."
She added, "The Fair Work Ombudsman is cracking down on underpayments in the fast food, restaurant and cafe sector, and we urge employers to check if they are paying their staff correctly."
The Fair Work Ombudsman is currently investigating a number of other high-profile restaurants run by the likes of Neil Perry, Guillaume Brahimi, Teage Ezard and Heston Blumenthal for alleged underpayments, Nine newspapers has reported.
