Sri Lanka’s former Deputy High Commissioner to Australia Himalee Subhashini Arunatilaka has been ordered to pay Australian Dollars 543,000 in unpaid wages and interest to a domestic worker and now faces a large fine for breaches of employment laws.

Arunatilaka, who served in Canberra from 2015 to 2018, denied her employee, Priyanka Danaratna, minimum pay and conditions during time in Australia, the Court found. Justice Elizabeth Raper found that Danaratna worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week and was only allowed two days off in that time after she burnt her hand with cooking oil. Over the period, she was paid just $ 11,200 – around Cents 75 an hour – which was sent to Sri Lanka. Danaratna was also denied permission to leave the Canberra residence alone, and had her passport confiscated.

In addition to handing down a judgment on Arunatilaka, Justice Raper suggested that if the Home Affairs Department had taken a closer look, “Danaratna’s employment may have been very different”. 

“It is not without concern that it would have been clear to the Home Affairs, by reason of the materials provided, that Danaratna was not going to be paid nor enjoy the protections under the Award or the Fair Work Act,” she wrote. “There was no apparent attempt to conceal the arrangement by Arunatilaka. It is perplexing that the Department, in the circumstances, did nothing and granted the visa in the circumstances.”

Arunatilaka currently serves as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva, Switzerland. 

Arunatilaka did not defend the legal actions against her.

The case was only possible because the Federal Court recognised that the residual immunity granted to former diplomats does not extend to employees in their direct employment, who are covered by Australian fair work laws.

Clayton Utz pro bono Partner David Hillard, who led the matter along with Canberra barrister Prue Bindon, said that this was not an isolated case. “It is the second Federal Court matter in less than a year involving domestic workers at diplomatic residences in Canberra,” Hillard said. “Domestic workers in foreign diplomatic residences are among the most vulnerable and isolated workers in Australia. It is hard to conceive of someone in 21^st Century Australia literally being trapped in a job for three years and earning Cents 75 an hour. This decision confirms clearly that these workers have rights in Australia, and that senior diplomats cannot hide behind diplomatic immunity when it comes to keeping their servants under slave-like arrangements.”

Last year (2023), Arunatilaka was appointed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.

Australian Financial Review

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