The Fairfax Media investigation has in recent weeks uncovered overwhelming evidence that permanent chefs at Rockpool Dining Group are required to do excessive unpaid overtime, pushing their wage well below the minimum rates of the award, the wages safety net. Staff were being paid for 38 hours a week while working 20 to 30 hours of unpaid overtime. It meant actual pay some weeks would equate to as little as $15 an hour. Future Fund chairman Peter Costello It is a clear breach of workplace law for an employer to require excessive unpaid overtime that pushes wages below minimum rates. The Fair Work Ombudsman is now investigating the high-end restaurant chain. Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, through a spokeswoman, would not answer questions about whether the Future Fund should consider labour practices when it invests, saying the fund "operates independently from the government".

A Future Fund spokesman did not respond to questions about whether it considered ethical or labour issues when it invested, saying they were issues for Quadrant Private Equity. Quadrant executive chairman Chris Hadley said his company was "a shareholder in Rockpool Dining Group alongside management. We are not operators of the business''. ''However, as shareholders we are very focused on ensuring the group provides a fair, equitable and safe working environment and we know that our investors expect the same.'' If any money was owed to employees, it would be paid back in full as soon as possible, he said. Labor workplace relations spokesman Brendan O'Connor said ethical considerations ''should be front of mind for any Future Fund investments'' and that the Turnbull government had not done enough on wage theft.

''This Liberal government has no genuine commitment to ensuring that underpayment and exploitation of workers aren’t part of companies’ business models,'' he said. Loading ''Scandal after scandal makes it clear that systematic wage theft is widespread, we need to act and the Turnbull government has not done enough.'' The Future Fund is Australia’s $141 billion sovereign wealth fund, set up by Mr Costello as treasurer in 2006 and designed to pay for the unfunded liabilities of the federal government. Since the first article was published in late June close to 100 current and former chefs and managers have contacted Fairfax Media about underpayment and poor treatment at Rockpool Dining Group.

Hundreds of pages of leaked documents have been provided to underline the group’s dependence on extensive unpaid work by permanent skilled chefs, who are often migrants. Rockpool Dining Group was formed in late 2016 when chef Neil Perry sold his restaurants for a reported $65 million to a company owned by Quadrant Private Equity. It owns 16 brands including "premium" eateries Sake and Rosetta, "casual and fun" restaurants including Munich Brauhaus and The Bavarian, as well as the flagship, Rockpool. Perry remains a shareholder and the group's chief brand and culinary director. Jonathon Pearce, Chris Hadley, Justin Ryan, Marcus Darville and Alex Eady, from Quadrant Private Equity Credit:Daniel Munoz

It is Australia's largest high-end restaurant business and, at first, vigorously disputed the findings of Fairfax Media's investigation, claiming it could be based on fraudulent documents. But in a subsequent statement, Quadrant said Rockpool had commissioned accounting firm PwC to undertake an audit of payroll, rostering and record keeping to be completed by the end of August. Perry has been speaking to restaurant staff in recent weeks in response to the wages scandal, and posters have recently been put up around workplaces asking staff to contact Perry, chief executive Thomas Pash or human resources if they have concerns around hours and pay. There is also a hotline. Rockpool restaurant at Crown Entertainment Complex. Credit:Vince Caligiuri Some chefs have noticed a more conciliatory approach from management since the scandal broke, while a leaked management email indicates this has been a deliberate strategy.

A food and beverage director John Sullivan told senior managers to stay ''close to your teams’’ ahead of the previous article published by The Sunday Age and Sun-Herald earlier this month. Mr Sullivan wrote that they would try engaging friendly media to try to counter the investigation. ''We are also going to engage some media to tell our side of the story. We will be armed and ready,'' the internal email said. Rockpool Dining Group is expected to turn over $300 million in 2017/18 and make operating profits of $40 million. Detailed corporate searches indicate that a subsidiary of the Future Fund has invested $160 million in Quadrant Private Equity's No.4 fund, which owns Rockpool and several other companies.

Chef Neil Perry (left) and Rockpool Dining Group chief executive Thomas Pash at Sake Restaurant. Credit:Wolter Peeters As a result a significant slice of dividends and any profits from an eventual sale of Rockpool Dining Group will end up with the Future Fund. It would not comment on the size of its investment. “We are one of over 30 investors, along with retail funds, industry funds and other investors, in Quadrant’s Fund IV, a local private equity fund we have supported,'' a Future Fund spokesman said. Loading ''It is Quadrant that determines where Fund IV invests and questions on this matter should be directed to them and Rockpool Dining Group.''

Fairfax Media is seeking to confirm more details on the other investors in the fund, although they do include an Ohio teachers' pension investor and an Amsterdam-based fund. Gino, a migrant chef who worked for 18 months at the Rockpool Dining Group, said this week he was worried he would never see the money owed to him. A chef at Sake in Sydney and the now-closed Sake Jr, he said he regularly worked 50 to 60 hours a week with up to 20 hours of that unpaid. He is likely owed tens of thousands of dollars. Gino said when he asked management about the unpaid work, he was told that was part of the job and his overall pay. ''Coming from another country, I didn’t have any idea about these things.''He has reported his case to the Fair Work Ombudsman but is worried it won’t be followed through.

Gino said working conditions were harsh with ''too much pressure, too much work''. He says he lost weight, struggled to sleep and battled exhaustion. Some days he’d get home from work at 1am after a 14-hour day and be off to work by 9am. Many chefs have likened their working conditions to slavery, with migrant chefs saying their visa status made them vulnerable to excessive work, significant underpayment and exploitation. The hospitality industry has a culture of long and unsociable hours and the restaurant award allows management to "buy out" penalties and overtime for a 25 per cent higher hourly rate. However, under the buyout, workers must still be paid more than the award overall, and it is a clear breach of workplace law for an employer not to do so.

Chefs at Rockpool Dining Group would only need to work between one to five hours a week of unpaid overtime to be underpaid, an analysis by Fairfax Media shows. Do you know more? Contact us securely via Journotips Follow Ben Schneiders on Facebook