Chef Neil Perry at a Sake restaurant. Credit:Fairfax Media Staff were being paid for 38 hours a week while regularly working 20 to 30 hours of unpaid overtime. Some weeks actual pay could be as low as $15 an hour. Loading In a statement, Rockpool Dining Group said it has had to "work hard to replace and modernise legacy systems and procedures and that work continues". It said it had made "significant progress" in changes to its business including more "rigorous and regular" monitoring to "promote compliance with employment obligations."

It would start making the payments ''immediately'' and would be contacting former employees in the coming days. It would not disclose how many workers would receive the payments. Despite the payout, the Fair Work Ombudsman confirmed its investigation into Rockpool would continue. "It’s a good start, of course," said a chef at the group, who had worked excessive unpaid overtime and asked not to be identified. "But I think it might just be a marketing strategy to clear up their name." The chef said the $1.6 million seemed far too low considering the amount of unpaid overtime done with estimates that some chefs were owed tens of thousands of dollars each. The payments should cover previous years as well, the chef said.

Mr Pash said the ''top up'' payments were consistent with the award. "As one of the largest employers in the Australian restaurant and hospitality sector, we are committed to lifting industry standards," he said. Neil Perry (left) and Rockpool Dining Group chief executive Thomas Pash. Credit:Wolter Peeters The private equity-owned Rockpool said it employed about 2400 people and had an annual wage bill of $100 million. It had engaged PwC to help with the review of its rosters and procedures. It is understood PwC will continue to work with the group and will look at performing "reconciliations for prior years". That could result in more payments to staff.

Rockpool Dining Group was created in late 2016 when Neil Perry sold his restaurants for a reported $65 million to a company owned by Quadrant Private Equity. It is Australia’s largest high-end restaurant business and is expected to turn over $300 million in 2017/18 and make operating profits of $40 million. The group 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, a columnist for Fairfax Media's Good Weekend magazine, remains a shareholder in the combined entity. The group originally strongly disputed Fairfax Media's reporting, claiming it could be based on "alleged documents" that may be "falsified".

It has since shifted its position and moved to slash the amount of unpaid overtime many of its chefs are working. Full-time chefs - many of whom are migrants - have said that their hours have been cut from about 60 hours a week to a more manageable 40 to 44 hours. Loading ACTU secretary Sally McManus said "wage theft" had become a business model for "far too many employers" and said unions needed greater rights to inspect the books when pay was not right. "It’s good for these workers that they’re finally getting what they’re owed, but they and thousands of other working people in Australia should never have had their wages stolen in the first place," she said.

The Fair Work Commission needed to be empowered, Ms McManus said, to "deliver swift, low-cost, plain-language access to justice, including backpay, in cases like this". Lobby group Restaurant & Catering Australia recently conceded the industry had a problem that extended beyond isolated cases and was now working with the Fair Work Ombudsman. 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, permanent workers must still be paid more than the award overall.

It is a breach of workplace laws for an employer to require excessive unpaid overtime that pushes wages below those minimum legal rates. Do you know more? Contact us securely via Journotips Follow Ben Schneiders on Facebook