The federal government recently introduced a "world-first" new visa class for migrant workers who have begun actions to recover unpaid wages or compensation for other forms of workplace exploitation. The scheme also protects exploited migrant workers who may have worked in contravention of their visa conditions from having their visa cancelled while they pursue their rights.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00I spoke with a young woman who just last Thursday has received one of these brand new so-called
00:09justice visas.
00:10Her story is a very interesting one.
00:12She arrived in Australia on a student visa.
00:14At the end of her studies, she obtained a two-year graduate employment visa and she
00:19started working for a very large company.
00:23Now, at that place of employment, she experienced sexual harassment at the hands of her manager.
00:29And she says that she felt that she was targeted by this manager because he identified her
00:34as somebody who was vulnerable because they were on a temporary visa and thought he could
00:39get away with it and she wouldn't complain.
00:42However, she did decide to complain and she has commenced legal action.
00:49But this has meant that her employment has not continued and she hasn't obtained sponsorship
00:54from her employer.
00:56And she's now at the end of her two-year graduate visa and was facing the prospect of having
01:02to leave this week, the country this week.
01:05And just last Thursday, she got a reprieve.
01:07She got one of these 12-month justice visas.
01:11This is important not just for her.
01:13It's also very important for accountability and transparency more generally in Australia
01:18because she'd been told by the tribunal member, if you leave Australia, we're not going to
01:23continue with this sexual harassment employment dispute.
01:28So there would have been no accountability for this employer and for this manager if
01:34the justice visa had not been granted.
01:36And which other types of workers have obtained this visa, Damien?
01:39Well, I spoke to the young woman's lawyer from the Human Rights Law Centre and she told
01:45me about two other workers that she's been working with.
01:49One who had been employed by an employer she describes as notorious for never paying superannuation
01:57to employees and her client was owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid super and
02:04was on her way to the airport again at the end of her time here in Australia when she
02:09was at the very last moment granted one of these visas.
02:12The lawyer also told me about an extremely disturbing case and she's still yet to hear
02:16whether she's obtained a visa for this man.
02:19He's working in regional Queensland, he's working as a packer and he has, according
02:25to his lawyer, been working for $3.50 an hour for the last two years and that money has
02:31been paid into an overseas bank account.
02:33So she's still waiting to hear whether she's got a justice visa for him so he can pursue
02:39his legal rights.
02:40What are the pathways for obtaining redress for exploited workers?
02:44Ros, there are two main pathways.
02:46You can go through the Fair Work Ombudsman and that's been a pathway which has been in
02:53existence for a while and that's been pursued by some migrant workers because if they choose
02:58to investigate your case, again deportation won't take place while they investigate your
03:04case.
03:05But the far more common avenue has been to go to the Small Plains Tribunal of the Federal
03:12Circuit Court but that's of course a very complex and difficult thing for somebody who
03:19might have just arrived in the country recently for them to do.
03:22You need all the paperwork, you need all the contracts, you need all the timesheets and
03:27of course you're up against an employer who knows exactly what they're doing often when
03:31it comes to workplace exploitation.
03:33So how could these pathways be improved then?
03:37Well in terms of the court process, there are calls to change the system to allow currently
03:48when a worker goes to one of these courts, each side bears their costs, the employer
03:55and the worker.
03:56Now the proposal is that if a worker wins, they should be able to claim the legal costs
04:03and that would allow more lawyers to get involved in this sector and actually put in the time
04:08and effort to try and get across these contracts, these timesheets, all this complex paperwork
04:14which is often part of the smokescreen put up by dodgy employers.