One hundred hour weeks, few rest breaks and shattered personal relationships are just some of the allegations being made by Justin Hemmes' staff in a massive class action against the pub baron's company Merivale.
In revisited testimony released in the early stages of legal action, past and present Merivale employees detailed their long work hours and lack of breaks between 2013 to 2019.
Punishing work weeks - some which would stretch to as long as 100 hours - were allegedly the norm for employees under Merivale's now defunct WorkChoices agreement which sparked the original class action.
Canberra firm Adero Law, overseen by principal Rory Markham, sued Merivale back in December 2019 on behalf of employees seeking unpaid wages - a claim which has since reached a staggering $129million for around 14,000 claimants.
Markham told Daily Mail Australia that his firm was expecting to reach a settlement with Hemmes in the coming weeks - ideally prior to the requested mediation deadline of June 3.
Hemmes, meanwhile, has declined to comment and is believed to be holidaying in the the US ski fields.
Merivale has previously said it 'firmly believes there is no basis for any action' - and that external parties had independently assessed its compliance.
Justin Hemmes facing a possible settlement with around 14000 past and present staff
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The testimony of several class action claimants paints a picture of the working life experienced by Merivale employees between 2013 and 2019 - a period which also coincided with some of Hemmes' biggest commercial success.
Adero believes 80 to 90 per cent of Merivale's chefs were permanent employees paid a salary and contracted for 38 hours per week but required to work at least 50 to 55 hours on average.
Work above that level wasn't unusual, with some of the claimants alleging instances of 100-hour work weeks.
The legal testimonies echo claims from a report published by news.com.au back in 2020, with former employees giving a raw snapshot into day-to-day life as a Merivale worker, detailing long hours, little or no rest breaks, and a lack of work/life balance.
Despite the industry award stipulating any work beyond 38 hours per week be compensated with overtime payments, chefs and kitchen hands were allegedly expected to work well beyond that.
With chefs working an average of 55 hours per week, Merivale essentially got at least 17 hours of free labour weekly per person, Adero alleges.
'I used to work for them with my ex-wife – we broke up because of them,' one chef claimed in the class action.
'We used to work 11 to 13 hours per day with only a 30-minute break. My ex-wife decided to leave the country … they literally destroyed my life.'
