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A Federal Court judge has slammed the Department of Home Affairs for failing to properly vet a former diplomat who confiscated a staff member’s passport and gave her just two days’ holiday in three years.
Sri Lanka’s former deputy high commissioner to Australia has been ordered to pay a domestic worker $543,000 in back wages and interest and now faces a hefty fine for breaching employment laws.
The tribunal found that Himalee Arunatilaka, who served in Canberra from 2015 to 2018, refused to offer her employee Priyanka Danaratna the minimum wage and conditions she would have received while employed in Australia.
Judge Elizabeth Raper found that Ms Danaratna worked from 6am to 10pm seven days a week and was only allowed two days off after she burned her hand with cooking oil.
During this time, she was paid just $11,200, or about 75 cents an hour, all of which was wired to Sri Lanka. Ms Dhanaratna was also banned from leaving her Canberra home and her passport was confiscated.
In addition to handing down a harsh sentence on Ms Arunathilaka, Mr Justice Raper said that if the Home Office had looked more closely, “Ms Dhanaratna’s employment circumstances might have been significantly different”.
“Based on the material provided, it would have been clear to the Department of Home Affairs that … Ms Dhanaratna would not be paid and would not have the protections under the arbitration award or the Fair Work Act,” she wrote.
“Ms Arunathilaka clearly made no attempt to conceal the arrangement. It is puzzling that the department took no action and issued the visa in this case.”
The case is one of several recent examples in which diplomats from countries with poor employment practices have been heavily fined for failing to comply with employment laws.
Last year, a federal court ordered Indian High Commissioner Navdeep Suri Singh to pay $189,000 in back wages and interest to Seema Shergill between 2015 and 2016 after she was found to have worked in “slave-like” conditions at the chief diplomat’s residence.
Judge Raper also ordered Mr. Suri to pay a $97,200 fine for wage theft, the maximum amount allowed.
Suri brought Seema Shergill to Australia when he started working in 2015. After arriving in Australia, he confiscated Shergill’s passport and confined her to their family home in Canberra.
Neither Ms. Arunathilaka nor Mr. Suri has defended the legal proceedings against them and it is unclear whether the plaintiffs in either case will receive a penny in damages.
The cases were heard because the Federal Court recognised that residual immunity granted to former diplomats did not apply to direct employees protected by Australia’s fair work laws.
Clayton Utz pro bono partner David Hillard, who is working on both cases with Canberra lawyer Prue Bindon, said these were not isolated cases.
“This is the second time in less than a year that the Federal Court has heard a case involving domestic workers at diplomatic residences in Canberra,” Mr Hillard said. “Domestic workers at foreign diplomatic residences are among the most vulnerable and isolated workers in Australia.
“It’s hard to imagine in 21st century Australia that someone could actually be stuck in a job for three years, being paid just 75 cents an hour.
“This decision … clearly confirms that these workers have rights in Australia and that senior diplomats cannot hide behind diplomatic immunity and subject their servants to slave-like treatment.”
In 2023, Ms. Arunathilaka was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in Geneva.
(afr.com)
(Except for the headline, this article was originally published by afr.com and has not been edited by SLM staff)
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