Redfern Legal Centre has assisted many international students in similar situations to those 7-Eleven workers, exploited and overworked, through its statewide international student service.
Due to the legal and social imbalance of power between international students and Australian employers, students often report feeling trapped in an abusive workplace. Factors such as language barriers, few social and support networks, and very little knowledge about their legal rights contribute to international students’ vulnerability to exploitation in the workplace.
This exploitation by unscrupulous employers has become so commonplace that it is now a systemic issue. Recent research by University of Sydney researcher, Stephen Clibborn, reports that 60% of international students working in Sydney were being paid less than the minimum wage. Some of the international students who come to RLC have been paid as little as $8 an hour. Some have never been paid at all.
Aakash* is an international student from Nepal, studying in Sydney. While studying, he began to work as a cleaner for a cleaning company. His employer paid Aakash irregularly at an hourly rate of $15 cash-in-hand and did not contribute to his superannuation fund. In addition, the employer failed to issue Aakash payslips as required by law. Aakash worked for the employer for nearly five months, by this time Aakash was not receiving any payment from the employer. Aakash had calculated he was owed unpaid wages totalling almost $4,000. Aakash sought legal assistance from RLC, which explained his employment rights, including his right to receive payslips from his employer and to be paid the minimum wage set out in the Cleaning Service Award 2009. RLC helped Aakash to calculate the correct amount he was owed by his employer, and discovered he was owed approximately $16,000, due to being chronically underpaid throughout his employment. RLC is assisting Aakash to negotiate a settlement with his former employer. RLC is aware that there are at least another 10 international students who are employed by the same employer who are in a similar situation, but will not take action as they are fearful of repercussions. * Not his real name |
Due to the high cost of living in Sydney, international student education fees and this chronic cycle of underpayment, many students end up working more than the 40-hour maximum per fortnight that their student visa allows.
When international students do request their legal pay rates from employers or attempt to enforce their employment rights, employers often threaten to report the student to the Department of Immigration for breaching the working conditions of their visa.
RLC has seen many cases where this threat has effectively silenced students who have experienced harassment, intimidation and even domestic violence in the workplace.
If found to have breached their visa conditions by working more than the allowed hours, international students are at risk of removal from Australia. Given this risk, many international students never report the exploitative conduct of their employer.
It is the systemic failings in immigration and employment laws that inadvertently allow bad businesses to continually exploit international students.
