The Workplace Justice Pilot will run for two years and aims to support temporary migrants who allege they have been exploited by their employers.
Temporary workers pursuing workplace exploitation claims will now be able to stay in Australia for up to 12 months. Source: Getty / Tempura
Temporary migrants can now remain in Australia for up to 12 months if they are fighting for justice from employers under a new visa.
The Temporary Activity visa (subclass 408) was introduced last week as a two-year pilot and has been designed to enable temporary migrants to remain in Australia to pursue a workplace exploitation claim.
Under the visa, the worker can stay in the country for six months if being in Australia is beneficial to their claim, or up to 12 months if being in Australia is necessary for pursuing the exploitation claim and it is in the public interest.
Members of the workers' family unit can also be included in their visa application if they are in Australia.
To be eligible for the visa, you must hold a temporary substantive visa with work rights with no more than 28 days remaining.
Workers who have held a temporary substantive visa with work rights that ended within 28 days of lodging the application can also be eligible.
Applicants must also have certification of their claimed workplace exploitation matter and need to explain why it is beneficial or necessary for them to stay in Australia to pursue the claim.
Workplace exploitation can include underpayment of wages, pressure to work more hours than their visa conditions allow, employers threatening to cancel visas, bullying or harassment, or pressure for workers to give their employers their passports.
Applicants must be in Australia to lodge their application and need to meet health and character requirements.
The new visa was pushed through by former immigration minister Andrew Giles, who was moved into the skills and training portfolioin a cabinet reshuffleon Sunday.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/migrants-will-now-be-allowed-to-stay-in-australia-to-pursue-workplace-exploitation-claims/5yc43gixy
