Iraq's consul-general in Sydney has been ordered to pay $20,000 to a Filipina worker the diplomat was found to be exploiting in "disgraceful" circumstances.
The Fair Work Commission described Anwar Alesi's treatment of her private nanny "morally repugnant" after it found the diplomat had significantly underpaid the domestic worker, failed to give her a room of her own, did not provide workers compensation or medical insurance and routinely made her work a six-day week.
When the worker, Juliet Buenaobra, raised concerns, Ms Alesi sacked her, an unfair dismissal case revealed.
Fair Work Commissioner Donna McKenna called into question the right for diplomatic personnel to use 403 visas to import domestic workers as “cheap domestic labour in their private residences".
“It seems to be a self-evident proposition that if diplomatic personnel want to have employees undertake domestic work in their private residences … they could … recruit locally or use local agencies which supply such domestic services – rather than recruiting economically and industrially-vulnerable persons from countries such as the Philippines,” she said.
“It was a relationship, in effect of subservience; a master/servant relationship and in the old-fashioned sense or understanding of such relationships,” the decision found.
Source: AAP
Ms Buenaobra was dismissed by Ms Alesi in November 2017, after the domestic servant confronted her employer with demands to meet her contractual and employment rights.
The Iraqi diplomat unsuccessfully defended the unfair dismissal on diplomatic immunity grounds, and then sought to keep the case a secret because of concerns about the "very delicate" relationship between the Iraqi and the Australian governments.
The decision has been welcomed by the CEO of Legal Aid NSW Brendan Thomas.
“This decision by the Fair Work Commission highlights the vulnerability of foreign workers who obtain visas to work for the diplomatic community, including consular officials,” Mr Thomas said.
“Even if workers come from overseas, this judgement makes it plain that they too are covered by Australian employment laws.
“All workers in Australia have the same rights, whether they are Australian citizens they are a visa holder.
“We welcome the maximum compensation awarded in this case – which is 26 weeks pay – and hope that this will serve as a warning to all employers who engage foreign workers on a visa, or domestic labour, that they must obey the law or pay penalty.
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