Staff members are paid hourly rates of between $9.50 at the age of 16 to $17.70 as adults over 21, which are similar to those in the fast food industry award. But without penalty rates, employees could be more than $40 worse off on 4.5-hour weekend shifts compared to the award. Grill'd franchises that have opened since the unpopular WorkChoices legislation was dumped are required to include higher wage rates in their agreements, and some include overtime pay. But enrolment in retail training programs – which Grill'd contracts stipulate as a "compulsory and a condition of ongoing employment – allows the company to continue paying its young workforce below full wages. Grill'd employee Ellie Schuler, who works at the company's main Brisbane restaurant, is the latest to speak out. The 21-year-old says Grill'd traineeships are used as an "excuse" for keeping wages so low.

Ms Schuler, a former team leader, said she was instructed to put a "positive spin" on traineeships when she was quizzed by younger workers about their meagre pay cheques. "If an employee ever came to us questioning their wages or why we don't get penalty rates, we were told that we had to say whatever we could to put a positive spin on it and abolish any negativity in the store about pay," she said. "Whenever it was brought up to management, questions about why we are paid so low, they would put it down to 'you are doing the traineeship through us, that's why'." Ms Schuler said any information or training sessions to do with the Grill'd-mandated certificates III and IV traineeships were scarce and the programs were rarely completed by anyone. Grill'd founder and managing director Simon Crowe the Grill'd training program was the fabric of the company and its values.

"We believe in young people, and are proud to give them a pathway that extends right through to owning a stake in their own business," he said. Chief operating officer Jon Swann said all Grill'd employment agreements were legally valid, ensuring lawful rates of pay for employees including trainees. He said the flat hourly pay rates had been tested against the award at the time the deal was struck in 2005. "Rates of pay have been reviewed annually, including relevant increases, to ensure that they do not fall below any base rate of pay in the otherwise applicable award," he said. An 18-year-old employee at a Melbourne Grill'd franchise told Fairfax Media she was forced to drop out of university due to the strain of living on the traineeship wage of $11 an hour. The employee said she had never participated in any training activities since starting at the franchise store earlier this year.

"I have never done any training the whole time I have been there," said the worker, who did not want to be named. "We think the traineeships are a way of exploiting young workers who need the work." Another Melbourne worker said the training was "at best, inconsistent, at worst, non-existent". Hospitality union United Voice said the Grill'd agreements were not illegal but were unfair. State secretary Jess Walsh said "alarm bells are ringing" over the use of mandated traineeships at Grill'd. Ms Walsh said the union had received complaints that the traineeships involve little or no training and appeared to be a "calculated effort to suppress wages".

"We are looking closely into making a complaint to the training authority," she said. n.toscano@fairfaxmedia.com.au