Sri Lanka’s former Deputy High Commissioner to Australia has been ordered to pay a further $117,000 to a domestic worker she paid less than 90 cents a day for three years in Canberra.
Priyanka Danaratna came to Canberra in 2015 from Sri Lanka to work as a “domestic servant” for Deputy High Commissioner Himalee Arunatilaka, until she escaped in 2018.
She could not read or speak English, and had her passport confiscated by Ms Arunatilaka on arrival.
The Federal Court heard Ms Danaratna worked seven days a week from 6:00am to 10:00pm for roughly three years, only taking two days off over that time when she burned her hand cooking at the residence.
She would undertake “all the domestic tasks” for the Deputy High Commissioner, including cooking, cleaning and laundry, and would sometimes work until 1am when Ms Aruntilaka would host events.
“She gave me permission from time to time to go for a short walk around the neighbourhood.
“I was not allowed to go to the shops or do other activities outside the house by myself. Sometimes Ms Arunatilaka would take me to the shops if I wanted to buy something.”
Ms Danaratna was able to escape on one of her walks in the neighbourhood with the help of the Salvation Army, who picked her up and took her to a safe house in Sydney.
Worker yet to be paid court-ordered penalties
Justice Elizabeth Raper described the $11,212.70 Ms Danaratna received over her three years of work as a “paltry sum contained in the unlawful contractual bargain they had made”.
When Ms Danaratna began working in Australia, the national minimum wage for a 38-hour week was $656.90.
Her lawyer David Hilliard previously described the contract to the ABC as a “slavery-type arrangement”, which breached Australian employment laws for the low wage, the hours she worked, and the lack of entitlements like breaks, overtime and penalty rates.
In August, Ms Arunatilaka was ordered to pay her former employee $374,000 in unpaid wages by the Federal Court, plus another $169,000 in interest.
In a judgment handed down yesterday, the Federal Court imposed a further penalty on Ms Arunatilaka of $117,000 in order to deter similar behaviour from diplomats, and for the former Deputy High Commissioner’s lack of participation in the court process.
In August’s judgment, Justice Raper said Ms Arunatilaka had “never engaged” in the proceedings, filing no defence or submissions and not attending any hearings.
Justice Raper said yesterday Ms Arunatilaka is yet to pay any of the money.
Ms Arunatilaka has left Australia, and is now the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
The Sri Lankan High Commission has been contacted for comment. (ABC)