Ex-Sri Lankan diplomat owes domestic worker $500,000 after failing to pay wages, court rules

Himalee Arunatilaka must pay Priyanka Danaratna $374,000 in unpaid wages plus $169,000 in interest after failing to pay the domestic worker any regular wages between 2015 and 2018, the Federal Court has ruled.

Former Sri Lankan diplomat Himalee Arunatilaka owes her ‘domestic worker’ $500,000 in unpaid wages. Picture: Twitter

A former Sri Lankan deputy high commissioner owes her “domestic worker” nearly $500,000 after failing to pay the woman – who worked seven days a week – any regular wages between 2015 and 2018, the Federal Court has ruled.

Himalee Arunatilaka must pay Priyanka Danaratna $374,000 in unpaid wages plus $169,000 in interest after Federal Court judge Elizabeth Raper’s ruling.

Ms Danaratna worked from 6am to 10pm most days, and performed all domestic duties in the deputy high commissioner’s house in Canberra, including cooking, cleaning, washing and preparing for parties.

She was not allowed to leave the residence unless permitted, but from time to time was allowed to “go for a short walk around the neighbourhood”.

The only two days off she had were to attend hospital after badly burning her hand while cooking. In total, Ms Arunatilaka paid Ms Danaratna $10,183.81, plus a final payment of $1028.89.

Representing Ms Danaratna, Clayton Utz pro bono partner David Hillard said this “is not an isolated case”.

“It is hard to conceive of someone in 21st-century Australia literally being trapped in a job for three years and earning 65c an hour,” he said. “This decision by Justice Raper, along with the upcoming penalties hearing against Ms Himalee Arunatilaka, spells out 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.”

Ms Arunatilaka did not participate in the court case at all nor respond to any allegations, according to the judgment.

The ruling in the case follows revelations in The Australian this month that Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Canberra is facing a class action by its ­locally employed Australian staff who allege they have been underpaid millions of dollars in wages and superannuation after being forced on to “sham contracts”.

More than 40 Australian citizens and permanent residents, who worked in the cultural mission attached to the embassy, claim to have been ripped off on overtime, holidays and promised wage rises, and say their superannuation and tax haven’t been paid for almost a decade.

Officials of the oil-rich kingdom have invoked diplomatic ­immunity and say Australian courts do not have jurisdiction over the embassy in its legal fight with the cultural mission staff.

An estimated $10m in wages and entitlements, at an average of $190,000 a worker, will be sought in the class action, which was filed in the Federal Court earlier this year. It involves current and former employees of the embassy’s cultural mission office.