George Calombaris

In 2015, the Fair Work Ombudsman alerted Calombaris' MAdE Establishment Group to a problem with their payroll system, which had resulted in the mispayment of one staff member. Following this incident, the chief executive of MAdE Establishment, Troy McDonagh, commissioned an independent review into MAdE Establishment's payroll systems. In January 2017, this review discovered a number of payment discrepancies, which had resulted in further staff being underpaid, which at the time the company valued at $2.6 million. In April 2017, following this discovery, MAdE Establishment said it had taken steps to rectify the issue, and voluntarily reimbursed the underpaid staff members at the highest overtime rate. In a personal statement, Calombaris said he was 'devastated' by the situation, and that correcting the underpayment was their 'highest priority.' [15]

On 18 July 2019, the Fair Work Ombudsman entered into an Enforceable Undertaking with MAdE Establishment,[16] in which MAdE Establishment admitted to underpaying $7.83m in wages to 515 of its current and former employees, and a further $16,371 to 9 employees of related company Jimmy Grants Pty Ltd.[5] The Enforceable Undertaking provided for a payment to the Australian Government of $200,000 (called a "contrition payment"), in addition to training, audits, apologies and making a series of statements promoting compliance with the Fair Work Act.[5] Hospitality unions called for Calombaris to be sacked as a judge on MasterChef Australia, however Network Ten released a statement saying "George has the support of Network 10. We will not be making any further comment."[17][18][19]

A number of high-profile venues were rebranded after the underpayment scandal.[20]

In May 2017, Calombaris was charged with assault after making physical contact with a 19-year-old man at Allianz Stadium during the 2017 A-League Grand Final. Video footage showed Calombaris shoving a spectator who had heckled him over underpaying his staff.[21] Calombaris said that he was offended by the spectator "yelling out abusive and derogatory comments" about his family.[22] The teenager denied that the heckling was directed at the chef's family.[23] Calombaris later apologised in a statement over his actions, saying "I regret the way in which I reacted, I am disappointed that I let it get to me, and I sincerely apologise for offending anyone." On 17 August 2017, Calombaris's barrister entered a guilty plea on his behalf.[24][25][26][27] After receiving a $1,000 fine, Calombaris appealed the conviction, and the judge dismissed the charges after deciding that Calombaris had been provoked, instead imposing a 12-month good behaviour bond.[28]

On Mother's Day 2014, Hellenic Republic was forced to close for 24 hours after about 90 patrons complained of vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps. A subsequent investigation by the Victorian Department of Health determined that a staff member was most likely responsible for an infection of norovirus.[29]

In February 2020, KordaMentha was appointed as the administrator of MAdE, with 12 venues closed immediately and 400 staff losing their jobs after being paid all entitlements and superannuation. Only Yo-Chi, a frozen yoghurt chain, was excluded from the voluntary administration.[30]