Sri Lankan diplomat Himalee Arunatilaka has been ordered by the Federal Court of Australia to pay back wages to her former housekeeper who worked for three years under conditions “similar to modern slavery.” The Australian court found the employment breached national laws due to the exceptionally low wages and required work hours. 

Unknowingly entered a “slavery-type arrangement” 

The Independent reports that between 2015 to 2018, Arunatilaka served as the deputy high commissioner of Sri Lanka in Canberra, Australia. While there, she employed Priyanka Danaratna to act as her housekeeper while living in Canberra. But over those three years, Danaratna was only paid AUD $11,212 for her work. That’s just three percent of the minimum wage in Australia. In addition, she was never given unpaid breaks, paid overtime or penalty rates, nor paid regularly or with issued pay slips, all breaches of Australia’s Fair Work Act. David Hilliard, Danaratna’s lawyer, says she effectively worked nonstop for three years for around 65 cents an hour.  

Hilliard stated: 

“It’s an example of how modern slavery works, vulnerable employees find themselves trapped in a situation where their lives are nothing but work, in a job they cannot escape.”  

When she was paid, her paltry wages went into a Sri Lankan bank account. This made her funds very difficult to access from Canberra. And on arrival her employer also took her passport – a hallmark of labor exploitation. Danaratna spoke very little English at the time. Without access to money or her passport, she found herself completely isolated.