A landmark racial discrimination Fair Work ruling is a win for the Northern migrant community, Launceston’s migrant advocate says.
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Migrant Resource Centre’s Ella Dixon said migrants often felt an obligation to their employers in Tasmania, which opened the door to exploitation.
“Our clients are sometimes just so happy to have a job, they don’t have the understanding of our award arrangements or they don’t know who to ask,” she said.
The Fair Work Ombudsman won the case against former owner of the Scamander Beach Resort Hotel after they proved in court the former hotelier underpaid a husband-and-wife Malaysian couple.
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The Ombudsman argued NSW man Chang Yen Chang, who owned and operated the Scamander Beach Resort Hotel on Tasmania’s East Coast until 2014, did not pay the pair award rates and forced them to work longer hours.
Chang was penalised $35,099 and his company Yenida was penalised a further $176,005.
Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said it was the first racial discrimination case the Ombudsman had won in court.
“It is an uncomfortable truth that racial discrimination is a driver behind some of the exploitation of migrant workers in this country,” she said.
She said the Ombudsman’s success in this case was a warning to any employer tempted to make decisions based on race.
Ms Dixon said the win was a good outcome for Northern Tasmania’s migrant community.
“It is good our processes in this case have prevailed,” she said.
However, she said racial discrimination was still prevalent.
The Migrant Resource Centre advises its clients on how to engage their employers to negotiate contracts.
“We have mostly had good outcomes, I think it comes back to communication,” she said.
She said migrants lacked knowledge about Australian workplace laws but the centre was trying to address that.