The court order centered on the $230,000 underpayment claim for lost wages by chef Midhun Basi.

The Nowra restaurant is located along a laneway between Junction Street and Emporium Lane.

South Coast Labour Council secretary Arthur Rorris said Basi was likely to be joined now by a second applicant to the court who is owed a similar amount of money.

"The size of the underpayment alone is likely to reach half a million dollars with another employee also stepping forward to claim a similar amount," he said.

"That puts Adithya Restaurants and its director and business partners liable to potentially pay a million dollars when fines, interest and costs are also tallied up.

"This is a mind boggling figure for two workers who've only been there for 18-months to two years."

Mr Rorris welcomed the "powerful Federal Court Order", which takes the SCLC "one step closer to taking wage theft off the menu".

"But what does it say about our system. What does it say about the rules at work - that you actually have to freeze the assets of your boss in the Federal Court just to get paid," he said.

"This indicates just how broken the system is. But every employer should know that we're prepared to go those lengths.

"We are prepared to actually go to the Federal Court and freeze their personal assets, if that is what we have to do to get justice for working people."

The two chefs who claim about $500,000 in lost wages from Adithya, were represented by WorkLawyers principal Kristian Bolwell.

"This Freezing Order covers the land owned by the director and business partner of the company as well as the assets of the restaurants," Mr Bolwell said.

"We are fully committed to achieving real compensation for our clients as they have worked as little more than slaves with the none to subtle threat of deportation used to obtain compliance for around two years."

The matter returns to the Federal Court on May 1, 2019.