Health Recruiting Australia Fined for Exploiting Filipino Nurses, Asia in Focus, August 15, 2008.
Sydney-based Healthcare Recruiting Australia (HRA) has been fined $A48,000 for deliberately underpaying one male and two female 457 visa-holders recruited as nursing assistants from the Philippines. HRA placed the three workers at two aged care facilities in Sydney during 2005 and 2006, where they provided residents with personal care and helped them with showering, dressing and eating. The Workplace Ombudsman said HRA failed to pay full wages, casual loadings, penalty rates and holiday pay, as well as making unlawful decisions without the workers consent. The Workplace Ombudsman has investigated more than 400 matters relating to 457 visa-holders over the past two years, recovering more than $1.3 million in underpayments for overseas workers.
