Fernanda* was one of around 80 international students underpaid by a cleaning company that went into liquidation and set up under a new name a short time later.
It is a practice known as phoenixing, where companies go into liquidation to avoid paying debts, such as entitlements owed to staff.
"I felt exploited and depressed and started going to a psychologist because they make me so feel useless," Fernanda said.
A recent Senate inquiry found migrant workers like Fernanda were particularly vulnerable to underpayment and exploitation and most did not seek help.
As employment groups call for the next federal government to ramp up migration to plug widespread labour shortages, a national coalition of organisations is calling for better protections for those workers to prevent wage theft.
Along with the Uniting Church and Ethnic Council of Victoria, the co-signatories have written to the major parties asking them to act on three key reforms recommended by two recent Senate committees to protect migrant workers from exploitation:
At Fernanda's workplace, the majority of her colleagues decided not to take legal action or lodge an...
A wave of pro-whistleblower opinions from federal judges suggests the False Claims Act remains on solid ground despite pointed questions from leading conservative judicial voices. Whistleblowers, ...