(COLOMBO) – Sri Lanka’s former Deputy High Commissioner to Australia has been ordered to pay $543,000 in unpaid wages and interest to a domestic worker and now faces a large fine for breaches of employment laws, local media reported on Friday.
Himalee 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, according to the reports.
The reports added that an Australian Federal Court judge has slammed the Home Affairs Department for failing to properly scrutinise a Sri Lankan diplomat who confiscated a staffer’s passport and gave her just two days leave in three years.
The court was told that Ms. Danaratna worked from 6am to 10pm, 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 75¢ an hour – which was sent to Sri Lanka. Ms Danaratna also was denied permission to leave the Canberra residence alone, and had her passport confiscated, according to the repports.
Himalee Arunatilaka currently serves as Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva.
Ms. Arunatilaka was in 2023 appointed Sri Lanka’s ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva.
