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A Sri Lankan diplomat has been ordered by a courtroom to pay greater than half 1,000,000 Australian {dollars} to her former housekeeper in again wages throughout her keep in Canberra allegedly below circumstances just like fashionable slavery.
Himalee Arunatilaka, who served as the previous deputy excessive commissioner of Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2018, paid Priyanka Danaratna simply three per cent of the minimal wage in Australia, in accordance with the Federal Court docket.
Ms Arunatilaka paid Ms Danaratna £5,805 (AUD$11,212) throughout her three years of labor, David Hillard, the home employee’s lawyer stated. The nationwide minimal wage for a 38-hour week is £340.12 (AUD $656.90).
“She labored seven days every week for 3 years, and he or she had two days off in that whole time – and he or she did that as a result of she burned her hand whereas making ready some meals,” Mr Hillard, a professional bono accomplice on the regulation agency Clayton Utz, stated.
Ms Danaratna filed a civil case towards her employer below the Truthful Work Act after she fled Ms Arunatilaka’s residence.
The Federal Court docket on Thursday discovered that Ms Arunatilaka breached the Truthful Work Act and was ordered to pay £193,642 (AUD$374,000) in unpaid wages and an extra £87,501.44 (AUD$169,000) in curiosity, bringing the entire quantity owed to greater than £281,143 (AUD$543,000).
The courtroom said that Ms Danaratna “was required to work abnormal hours in extra of a median of 38 per week, in extra of 10 hours per day, for greater than 5 hours with out an unpaid break of at the very least half-hour for a meal daily, and in extra of a median of 38 hours per week with out being paid extra time.”
It additionally famous that she was “required to carry out work on public holidays with out being paid penalty charges and never paid a 17.5 per cent annual go away loading”.
“Ms Arunatilaka has by no means engaged with this continuing: she has not filed a discover of handle for service, a defence or any proof or submissions opposing Ms Danaratna’s declare. She didn’t attend the listening to. Ms Danaratna has served on Ms Arunatilaka all the fabric relied upon in help of her declare specifically, the initiating processes, pleadings, proof and submissions,” the courtroom famous.
“At listening to I made this order on the premise that I used to be happy that Ms Arunatilaka had been notified on quite a few events of the declare towards her and of the listening to and it appeared that she didn’t intend, by her personal election, to take any half within the proceedings.”
The Sri Lankan overseas ministry got here to Ms Arunatilaka’s defence and stated she had adopted government-approved charges in paying the wages. “The allowance permitted by the ministry because the wage of the worker has been paid to her,” a ministry assertion stated.
“The ministry is happy that the stated wage was paid to the home assistant by the employer as mutually agreed.”
Ms Arunatilaka now works because the Everlasting Consultant of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Workplace at Geneva.
Mr Hillard alleged that his shopper was not allowed breaks or holidays throughout her employment.
“It’s an instance of how fashionable slavery works,” he stated. “Susceptible workers discover themselves trapped in a state of affairs the place their lives are nothing however work, in a job they can’t escape.”
He stated that the worker’s passport was taken by the diplomat and Ms Danaratna was not allowed to go away the home with out her or her husband’s permission.
“She informed me that she would give me the passport again earlier than I left Australia. Ms Arunatilaka didn’t clarify why she needed my passport. I gave my passport to her. I by no means noticed that passport once more,” Ms Danaratna stated in an courtroom affidavit quoted by ABC.
Ms Danaratna alleges was solely allowed to go on quick walks across the neighbourhood which allowed her to contact the Salvation Military, an evangelical Protestant Christian church that engages in charity work.
“On 14 August 2018, I informed Ms Arunatilaka and her husband that I used to be going for a stroll. I left Ms Arunatilaka’s residence, and the 2 individuals from the Salvation Military have been ready for me close by in a automobile,” she stated, including that she stayed in a secure home there.
Mr Hillard stated the envoy doesn’t have diplomatic immunity safety as she is now not a diplomat within the nation.
Journalist and political analyst Ranga Jayasuriya wrote that “Sri Lanka ought to count on penalties, not simply reputational injury”.
In his editorial in Day by day Mirror, he requested what’s worse – “the Sri Lankan diplomat ordered to pay half 1,000,000 Australian {dollars} or the overseas ministry defending the diplomat in what can be worldwide embarrassment”.
The Unbiased has reached out to Ms Arunatilaka for remark.
