Check this moron out. Underpaid staff to the tune of nearly 8 million and claims it was a shock when he found out. Now he wants to be a "voice for change" in the industry. More like desperately trying to salvage his tarnished reputation. Weapons grade crapola.
www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-31/george-calombaris-breaks-his-silence-about-underpaying-staff/11368212
He doesn't want to be "the voice for change", the courts ruled he has to, part of his punishment.
The court never told him anything according to the article, it didn't go to court.
The Fair Work Ombudsman made an agreement with the company regarding a contrition payment (whatever that is,flash word for fine?) and it is court enforceable. In other words he has to abide by it or else it might be a court matter.
Bit harsh to have a crack if his company did indeed discover the underpay themselves, and he seems very genuine.
Sleazy weasel crying poor.
Sell some houses from his portfolio first and repay his staff in FULL before we can believe a word of him again.
Select to expand quotenovetti said..
Sleazy weasel crying poor.
Sell some houses from his portfolio first and repay his staff in FULL before we can believe a word of him again.
someone sounds a bit bitter. Do you think he personally sits up doing payroll for his various enterprises and then works out how to shortchange?
8 million unpaid was 8 million in profit they thought they were earning. What did they think was going on?
Select to expand quotemyusernam said..novetti said..
Sleazy weasel crying poor.
Sell some houses from his portfolio first and repay his staff in FULL before we can believe a word of him again.
someone sounds a bit bitter. Do you think he personally sits up doing payroll for his various enterprises and then works out how to shortchange?
Uh looks like Colomba's have some advocates here.
Simply put, the business is HIM. Any bad rep would obliviously be directly at him and his reputation.
Then GO crying poor in a TV interview before owning to wearing pants, ACT like a man and honor your debts.
Blame the payroll HR intern for such mistakes...yes right. The liability is his reputation, still can be sorted just PAY the workers, simple as that.
Looks like he made a choice what is more important to him. The rest is just gossip. Maybe he could enlist to the next ''Survivor'' or Celebz in the jungle now he lost his TV gig.
The sob story would have a little credibility if they actually overpaid someone, but I don't see that headline coming up anytime soon.
Just the tip of the iceberg that has been exposed! Be good when they go after hotels like the Sheraton, hiltons, and large hotels and resorts who are renowned for under paying staff
Select to expand quoteMark _australia said..
The court never told him anything according to the article, it didn't go to court.
The Fair Work Ombudsman made an agreement with the company regarding a contrition payment (whatever that is,flash word for fine?) and it is court enforceable. In other words he has to abide by it or else it might be a court matter.
Bit harsh to have a crack if his company did indeed discover the underpay themselves, and he seems very genuine.
Gotta agree with you there.... I reckon some are being a bit quick to climb the soap boxes to get on the bandwagons....
Facts are - his company stuffed up, his company realised they stuffed up. His company went to fair work and told them they stuffed up. His company worked with Fair Work to rectify the short payments and made additional payments.
He is the head of the company and has taken full responsibility.
Not good, and should not have happened. He is paying the consequences now though public backlash. But I run a business and can see how easy it would be for a growing company to make mistakes. Especially if they haven't resourced the support in that area (their fault for sure).
At least they found out the problem and rectified it themselves. It's not like they were caught out deliberately shafting employees.
Frankly I reckon they should be applauded for doing the right thing and set as an example of what businesses should do when they stuff up. I'm sure there are plenty who would have just quietly carried on.
Just a representation of the Hospitality Industry as Whole!
I'm sure a lot of us have worked in hospitality at some stage or still work in it and know how we have been scrooged/screwed by the owners/companies!
Love how Master Chef portrays the glamour side of it - love to know how many of the contestants tried to work in Hospitality and left shortly after being in it!
I feel sorry for the people still in the industry who can't leave it for different reasons.
Say what you want about hospitality but you cant argue that you have a terrible job at any village town boat wagon city at any morning midday night of any day or night on any country in world.
I have a good friend whose getting on a bit and she was a bit upset about being a 40 yr old cook and i explained if she was a neuroscientist she would have stuff all work available to her on this little island. That perked her up a bit.
Grass is always greener. Ive always enjoyed all of my jobs. Hospitality always seemed to be the most social. Its the people.
Select to expand quotecausehecan said..
Say what you want about hospitality but you cant argue that you have a terrible job at any village town boat wagon city at any morning midday night of any day or night on any country in world.
I have a good friend whose getting on a bit and she was a bit upset about being a 40 yr old cook and i explained if she was a neuroscientist she would have stuff all work available to her on this little island. That perked her up a bit.
Grass is always greener. Ive always enjoyed all of my jobs. Hospitality always seemed to be the most social. Its the people.
Yes but the people come and go - due to the grass always being greener on the other side.
Shyte I could talk about this non stop!
some things i miss about it but generally speaking the management always seems changing - lots of unqualified persons in the management positions - most funny was seeing Police arrest a GM for fraud, another being escorted by Police off the premises. Geez the list goes on, so many stories etc but limited time to type!
But you have the ones who are happy doing what they do regardless of whats going on, good on them! There is always someone worse off!
The lowest point was a friend who took his own life after being ripped off by a large hotel over 3 years, not having the confidence to leave the industry and felt stuck in it.
I hope the ones in relation to George Columbaris aren't staring down the same path as my mate.
We talking accor? mantra etc?
Hospitality can be very fun. Unlike concreteing. Most fun experience concreteing is when this old digger got on the screed and his balls were hanging so low out of his footy shorts they were dragging in the concrete leaveing a little trail. Eventually they built up enough crust he didnt even realise it. It was akin to a snowball being rolled down a hill in a charlie brown comic. Just kept getting bigger and bigger.
But yeah hospo managers tend to be whoever the owner/gms fancieing that month
Any coed environment is so much better to work in. Ill take a paycut just for that alone
Select to expand quoteParadox said..Mark _australia said..
The court never told him anything according to the article, it didn't go to court.
The Fair Work Ombudsman made an agreement with the company regarding a contrition payment (whatever that is,flash word for fine?) and it is court enforceable. In other words he has to abide by it or else it might be a court matter.
Bit harsh to have a crack if his company did indeed discover the underpay themselves, and he seems very genuine.
Gotta agree with you there.... I reckon some are being a bit quick to climb the soap boxes to get on the bandwagons....
Facts are - his company stuffed up, his company realised they stuffed up. His company went to fair work and told them they stuffed up. His company worked with Fair Work to rectify the short payments and made additional payments.
He is the head of the company and has taken full responsibility.
Not good, and should not have happened. He is paying the consequences now though public backlash. But I run a business and can see how easy it would be for a growing company to make mistakes. Especially if they haven't resourced the support in that area (their fault for sure).
At least they found out the problem and rectified it themselves. It's not like they were caught out deliberately shafting employees.
Frankly I reckon they should be applauded for doing the right thing and set as an example of what businesses should do when they stuff up. I'm sure there are plenty who would have just quietly carried on.
Wonder how many of the critics have actually run a business employing numerous staff with no CEO and no Financial Controller ?
They wouldn't have the slightest clue what that would be like.
Taking the story at face value he seems to have done the right thing.....
Agree Main, every story has two sides. As employees we've all been slack or have screwed while being clocked on. Don't see many, if any, employees offering a reduction in take home pay because we were half assed or didn't have our eyes on the ball all day, every day.
As an employer you put a lot of trust in staff to do the right thing & sometimes this doesn't happen. Hopefully when sh!t happens experience, margin or insurance may cover you. George loves food, cooking etc... & that would be his focus. I doubt he was across every last detail of his financials other than regular reports. At least he's had the balls to stand up & say my business, my issue. Having said all that, one cardinal rule of running a business is never f#*k up staff pay.
Select to expand quotenovetti said..myusernam said..novetti said..
Sleazy weasel crying poor.
Sell some houses from his portfolio first and repay his staff in FULL before we can believe a word of him again.
someone sounds a bit bitter. Do you think he personally sits up doing payroll for his various enterprises and then works out how to shortchange?
Uh looks like Colomba's have some advocates here.
Simply put, the business is HIM. Any bad rep would obliviously be directly at him and his reputation.
Then GO crying poor in a TV interview before owning to wearing pants, ACT like a man and honor your debts.
Blame the payroll HR intern for such mistakes...yes right. The liability is his reputation, still can be sorted just PAY the workers, simple as that.
Looks like he made a choice what is more important to him. The rest is just gossip. Maybe he could enlist to the next ''Survivor'' or Celebz in the jungle now he lost his TV gig.
in the 730 report last night he said they self reported when they found out the issue 2 years ago. and paid the money in full at that time. it was about classifications or something. so if you have someone in the wrong classification then their rate is different. it's only in the news at the moment because of the results of the commission or whatever. watch it if you're interested. I'm not really. I just think you jumped the gun and sounded very bitter "sell some of his houses" maybe you should work hard and get yourself some
Hang on, he did find the problem and then alerted the commission. He wasn't caught ripping off people, he basically said , I've made an error and I need to pay more to my staff.
Anyone got something extra by mistake and not told the supplier 
surely if you found the error you would then quietly sort it out with your employees. why would you need to to go to a bunch of beaurocrates. first. I'll be guessing he lawyers did better than the employees on this one
Have worked in a few 5 star restaurants in Aussie and whilst living/traveling over seas, all were good times, money was ok, tips where massive OS, more than the wage. Jobs are what you make them, no matter what the occupation.
Select to expand quotelandyacht said..
surely if you found the error you would then quietly sort it out with your employees. why would you need to to go to a bunch of beaurocrates. first. I'll be guessing he lawyers did better than the employees on this one
He's a public figure. Keeping it quiet and fixing it on the down low could hurt a lot more later on than fixing it in public view now.
Select to expand quotenovetti said..
Sleazy weasel crying poor.
He isn't crying poor.Select to expand quote
Sell some houses from his portfolio first and repay his staff in FULL before we can believe a word of him again.
"We went to Fair Work, we owned up, and two years ago we paid back everyone."
Did you actually read the article, or, are you one of those modern people that need to be more offended and outraged than the next person? Any excuse you get.
Apologies if you have just given birth and are hormonal.
Select to expand quote
"Right now there's [sic] 642 team members..."
Should (just) be able to handle that many with a slick spreadsheet, really.
