Michael is an international student who deferred his studies. This means that the limitation of work hours as a visa condition is not applicable to him.

He asked for legal assistance because, after three months of full-time work, he still had not been paid any wages or superannuation.

Michael signed a two-year contract to work as a web developer on a full-time basis. His employer gave him different excuses for not paying him in accordance with his written contract. His employer told him he was not allowed to work full-time hours because he was on a student visa.

Ultimately his employer dismissed him for exercising his workplace rights and Study Melbourne helped Michael get legal representation in a General Protections Dispute at the Fair Work Commission. The alleged wage theft is also being reported to the Wage Inspectorate Victoria.

Chen was an international student who found an ad online for rental accommodation. After contacting the alleged rental provider, she signed an agreement and paid the first month’s rent and a bond.

The rental provider kept delaying the move-in date. Chen became suspicious and told the rental provider she no longer wanted to go ahead with the rental agreement. The rental provider said she would refund the money Chen had paid but did not do so.

Chen only had the rental provider’s phone number.

Chen later found social media posts discussing a scammer targeting international students. Details of the scammer fit the rental provider’s description.  Chen reported the matter to the police. The purported rental provider was charged with related criminal offences.

Chen approached Study Melbourne seeking help to recover the money paid to the rental provider.

Chen was advised on her options to recover the amount, including the option of seeking compensation through the criminal proceedings.

Study Melbourne secured help to advocate on behalf of Chen seeking that either the police or the prosecutor apply for the compensation order on her behalf. Otherwise, Chen would have to apply herself.

Police later confirmed that a compensation order would be sought on behalf of Chen. The police kept Chen informed of the progress of the criminal proceedings.

Tala is an international student from south-east Asia.

At the start of 2020, she was looking for a job. A friend worked at a fruit and vegetable store and told her that she could probably recommend her for a role there. Tala met with the boss, who told her that he could employ her as a casual retail assistant. The pay would be a flat rate of $14.50 per hour. At the time, she was desperate for work and thought to herself that she would accept the job and work there until she could find something better. In February/March 2020, COVID-19 hit, and Tala knew that it would be very difficult for her to find another job. Many people had lost work because of lockdowns, and she was not eligible for either Jobkeeper or Jobseeker because of her visa status. She was extremely worried about how she was going to survive.

She repeatedly told her boss that the low rate of pay was putting her in extreme financial hardship and that she was not able to pay her school fees, rent, bills, and food. Instead of raising her pay to the lawful minimum (which, for the role she was doing, would have been at least $27.23 for ordinary hours Monday to Friday, with higher rates payable on weekends, after 6pm, and for overtime), her boss pressured her to work additional hours. Her boss would also speak to her very rudely, often telling Tala that she was “lazy” if she asked for time off to do her schoolwork or go to the doctor. He also made derogatory comments about her nationality, including saying that people from her country were “bad workers” and he wouldn’t hire them.

Tala eventually developed clinical depression. Her boss treated her extremely poorly when she told him she had been diagnosed with depression, again yelling at her that she was “lazy” and telling her she was “sick in the head”. She was not able to continue to work and had to quit her job.

She contacted Study Melbourne, who assisted her with casework support and referred her to a lawyer for free advice. The lawyer was able to advise her about the different causes of action that she had, including in respect of underpayment, being forced to quit her job, and being treated badly at work because of her nationality and mental illness.

Tala decided that she wanted to try to recover her underpayment. The lawyer assisted her to calculate her underpayment. Including overtime, penalty rates, and the low base rate she was paid, her total underpayment was approximately $33,000 (plus superannuation). She was also extremely concerned about her former colleagues who remained at the workplace. She wanted to ensure they would not be treated like she was. Tala knew that there were other employees in much worse situations than her – including one who was living in an apartment owned by the boss, who had most of her wages taken as “rent”. Tala decided to bring a claim for underpayment in court and report it to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

A lawyer introduced via Study Melbourne assisted Tala to prepare a complaint to the FWO and an application in court. The FWO considered that her complaint had merit and decided to investigate Tala’s former employer. Recently, the FWO issued a compliance notice to Tala’s former employer, requiring them to rectify the underpayment in full.

Tala’s actions have also inspired a second employee of the fruit and vegetable shop, Sarai (also an international student), who had also been underpaid, to contact the same lawyer for help to make a complaint to FWO. The FWO have indicated that they are going to issue a second compliance notice in respect of Sarai’s underpayment.