A diplomat who “entrapped” a domestic worker in her Canberra home, forcing her to work 16 hours, seven days a week, for less than a dollar an hour, has been fined more than $100,000 in the federal court.
The fine is in addition to more than $500,000 in unpaid wages and interest she has already been ordered to restore, but has so far refused to pay.
Himalee Arunatilaka served as Sri Lanka’s deputy high commissioner to Australia between 2015 and 2018. She employed Sri Lankan mother of two Priyanka Danaratna as a domestic worker in her home in Deakin, amid Canberra’s diplomatic quarter.
Related: ‘I felt like a prisoner’: the domestic workers ‘trapped’ by Canberra’s diplomatic employers
Arunatilaka sponsored Danaratna’s entry into Australia, promising she would pay her in accordance with Australian wages and conditions.
But Danaratna told the federal court she was instead isolated and oppressed, working every day for three years, save for two days she spent in hospital after burning herself with oil in the kitchen.
She worked from 6am to 10pm on a “normal day”, but when the deputy high commissioner was entertaining, she would not finish until 1am. Danaratna had her passport taken from her, and was not allowed to leave the house, except when given permission to take short walks in the neighbourhood.
“She did not provide me with satisfactory clothing and food. I did not feel like I was being treated properly,” Danaratna told the court.
Her lawyers calculated she was paid less than 65 cents an hour for her thousands of hours’ work over three years.
In a judgment delivered Friday, Justice Elizabeth Raper said the diplomat’s offending was calculated and intentional.
“Ms Danaratna was deliberately isolated from the community and effectively entrapped within the household,” the judge found.
“Ms Danaratna was deprived of any semblance of work and life divide. Her conditions bore no resemblance to what one would expect under Australian law and were egregious and exploitative.”
Raper said Aruntalika abused her authority and power over Danaratna.
“The whole scheme of exploitation stemmed from a number of factors. First, Ms Danaratna was vulnerable and wholly reliant on Ms Arunatilaka. She was unable to read or speak English and had no connections in the community.
“Secondly, by being cloistered in Ms Arunatilaka’s household Ms Danaratna was invisible from and unable to participate in Australian society.
“Thirdly, Ms Arunatilaka engaged in practices that entrapped Ms Danaratna in the household.”
The judge cited the seizure of Danaratna’s passport, her being kept sequestered in the diplomat’s house and being refused access to all but the smallest sums of money, as consciously and acutely exploitative.
Arunatilaka has refused to engage with the court process in Australia. She did not file any evidence with the court or appear at any hearings.
Previously, for an exploited worker to access the Australian government-funded Support for Trafficked People Program they had to be referred by a law enforcement agency (usually police). But from July, the social services department has funded the Additional Referral Pathway, led by the Salvation Army, which allows exploited workers to access help without going to police first.
Claudia Cummins, the Salvation Army’s modern slavery lead, says “de-coupling” assistance for exploited workers from police reporting will lead to more people being identified and supported.
“We often find that once a person has accessed support, feels safe and understands their rights, they may then choose to engage with police about their experiences,” she said.
The Additional Referral Pathway is a national program and can be contacted by phone for free on 1800 000 277, with interpreters available, or via the website.
But advocates say more needs to be done.
Human trafficking expert and doctoral candidate in law at RMIT, Heather Moore, wrote a report in 2019, Service or Servitude, detailing consistent exploitation of diplomatic domestic staff that was going “undetected or unacknowledged by authorities”. She argues the system needs to be reformed to reduce the isolation faced by domestic workers, “the most isolated workers in the country”.
“I’d like to see more frequent welfare checks, and ongoing engagement with community organisations,” she said. “You can’t underestimate the importance of having that personal connection for people who have no other reference point for Australian society.”
Domestic workers are often accompanied by their employer to their annual meeting with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, where they might feel unwilling to speak up near or in the presence of the person who brought them into the country, Moore says.
She says in cases where Australian courts have found workers have been exploited and are owed money, the government could put a ban on any further applications for domestic worker visas from the offending country until the matter – including the money owed – is settled.
Moore also argues diplomatic domestic workers should be allowed to apply for the recently introduced workplace justice visa – from which they are currently specifically excluded. These reforms would diversify the pathways out of exploitation so the onus is not on the worker to “assume enormous risk to rescue themselves”, she said.
David Hillard, pro bono partner at Clayton Utz, which has run successful cases before the federal court on behalf of exploited diplomatic domestic workers, says the onus to protect and properly pay domestic staff should be a condition of a diplomat’s visa and right to work in Australia.“If these visas are to continue, then it is essential that before a visa is ever issued, there is confirmation that the employment contract has been translated, understood and agreed by the domestic worker,” he said.He believes it should be a requirement that all wages are paid into an Australian bank account, in the domestic worker’s name and under their control.
Despite a judgment in August this year that she compensate Danaratna more than half a million dollars – $543,300.73 – in backpay and interest, she has not paid any of the money she owes.
Arunatilaka has not responded to repeated requests for comment from Guardian Australia.
Her diplomatic career has been unaffected. She is now serving as Sri Lanka’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, where she is also accredited to the International Labor Organisation.
The Sri Lankan government has also rejected the court’s judgments. In response to the court’s first judgment, it accused Danaratna of absconding, and said it was “satisfied that the said salary was paid to the domestic assistant by the employer as mutually agreed”.
But Justice Raper said Arunatilaka knowingly intentionally exploited her employee, signing documents committing to upholding Australian laws and to paying award wages.
Despite this, she then signed a work contract with Danaratna which breached those obligations, and then failed to uphold even that contract. The judge said the protections of Australia laws were designed to protect vulnerable workers from the “domestic servitude of the Victorian era”.
In fining Arunatilaka $117,028.80, Raper said the diplomat had “taken no steps to rectify the conduct”.
Related: Nobody in Australia would work for 65 cents an hour. We cannot tolerate it at foreign embassies either | Fiona David
“She has not paid Ms Danaratna the amounts owing, has shown no remorse or contrition and has taken no steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”
And the judge said she was concerned a number of similar cases “involving indentured servitude within the households of diplomats” had come before the court.
“There is a particular need for penalties to be imposed which deter diplomat employers from exploiting foreign workers who they bring to Australia to work in their private, diplomatic residences … a strong, clear message needs to be sent to those involved in the diplomatic corps as to the consequences for engaging in like conduct and to deter contravening conduct of this kind.”