Indian migrant Tejinder Singh worked at different stores of 7 Eleven between April 2011 and August 2014, working at a flat rate of $12 an hour.
“I worked 7 days a week and at times did 16-hour shifts, without any overtime, weekend or public holiday penalties,” he says.
Mr Singh claims the convenience store chain owes him $200,000 in unpaid wages. His worker’s compensation claim is pending before a penal constituted to compensate the workers who were underpaid.
But Mr Singh is not alone.
A new report released on Tuesday has found one in three international students and backpackers in Australia face “endemic and severe exploitation” are paid half of what they are legally entitled to.
Report co-author and UTS Law professor Laurie Berg told SBS News it was the first study of its kind in Australia.
"To this point, we haven't known how far the exploitation goes," she said.
"So our survey presents the first hard data that shows that we have a hidden underclass of temporary migrants in this country.
"And they are made up of international students and backpackers who are earning well under the minimum wage."
Among the over four thousand respondents who participated in the survey, 2,392 were international students and 1,440 were working holidaymakers. It also included 300 457 visa holders.
In 91 cases, respondents had had their passports confiscated by employers; 173 respondents were required to pay upfront “deposits” of up to $1000 to secure a job in Australia, and 112 respondents had been asked to pay the money back to their employer in cash after receiving their wages.
The study also found 44 per cent of overseas workers are paid in cash, including two in three waiters, kitchen-hands and food servers. Half never or rarely receive a payslip.
The report found that the underpayment of wages is widespread across industries but is especially common in food services. It said at least one in five students and backpackers from India, Britain, Brazil, America and China were receiving roughly half of their lawful wage.
According to the report, most of the exploited workers are aware of their exploitation but they continue to work in the jobs believing that everyone else of their visa is earning less than the minimum wage too.
It also found that workers from Asian countries including China, Taiwan and Vietnam receive lower wage rates than those from North America, Ireland and the UK. Chinese workers are also more likely to be paid in cash.
The national minimum wage is $18.29 per hour but the study found a third of backpackers earn $12 per hour or less, while a quarter of all international students earn $12 or less.
