Sangwuk Ji who graduated a well-known cooking school in Sydney as a foreign student in 2015 came back to Australia last year after he got employed by a cafe located in a regional NSW.
The twenty-eight-year-old accepted the offer from the cafe introduced by one of his friends that they were going to sponsor his permanent residency under the RSMS (Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme).
Everything seemed fine at the beginning.
However, a month after the RSMS application was officially registered, the employer made a rather shocking suggestion to him.
“He paid me what he supposed to pay me legally at the beginning. But later, although I was supposed to get about $800 per week, he asked me to pay him back $200. He told me as the business had not running well he wanted me to understand the situation.”
Mr Ji was clearly aware of that the offer is unfair and even illegal but he thought he was not in a position to reject it.
“That’s because I had invested lump sum money. When I returned to Australia after the break in Korea, I needed to pay the visa application fee and lawyer’s fee. I also needed to buy a car and furniture so I almost spent $30,000. I was afraid if I say it is unfair to him, I might blow up all my investment. I also afraid there might be revenge against me so my hands were tied.” Mr ji said.
Mr Ji thought he should be patient until his permanent residency is issued and after that he had work for 14 months. However, the employer didn’t stop there.
“One day the employer called me in and told me that he needed more sacrifice from me because the economic situation was getting worse. He said as he only took little money from the business he wanted me to pay him back more money. He said he would pay me $300 for 5 days working and asked me if I can accept it or not.” Mr Ji said.
Although it was such a shock offer, he returned to work the following day. The employer didn’t even try to hear Mr Ji’s answer he handed in a letter to dismiss him.
After that Mr Ji lodged a complaint regarding unfair employment in Fair Work Ombudsman. Throughout the mediation, the employer agreed to refund about $10,000 that he received from Mr Ji.
Even though the employer admitted the allegation, Mr Ji yet didn’t get the full refund from him.
SBS Korean program tried to contact the employer to ask his view on the matter, he didn’t make any response.
Mr Ji said the reason why he wanted to share his story with others is that he doesn’t want any other victims experience what he had suffered.
“I thought I want migrants coming here get treated at least as a human being when they settle down. Even though Australian permanent residency is precious, if you sacrifice like this, it would be hurtful. It can be also passed down from generation to generation so I wanted let people know about my experience.” Mr Ji said.
The full interview is available on the podcast above.
Korean chef Sangwuk Ji Source: SBS Korean program
