Young Adelaide worker blacklisted online after speaking out against her former employer | Industrial relations | The Guardian

Young Adelaide worker blacklisted online after speaking out against her former employer | Industrial relations | The Guardian



Young Adelaide worker blacklisted online after speaking out against her former employer


The ex-bubble tea bar employee is among four people whose names, photos, social media accounts and chat logs were posted on website


An anonymous user has posted details identifying a young worker who spoke out out about her former employer as well as two activists who organised a protest against wage theft in Adelaide’s Chinatown. Photograph: Kelly Barnes/AAP


Royce Kurmelovs
@RoyceRk2
Fri 19 Mar 2021 03.30 AEDT

A young female victim of an alleged assault that took place in an Adelaide bubble tea bar has been blacklisted by an anonymous user after speaking out about her former employer.

The woman, who does not wish to be named, was among four people who were “doxxed” with their name, photo, social media accounts and chat logs included in a list posted by an anonymous user to AdelaideBBS.com.

The website serves as a Chinese-language version of Gumtree for the community in South Australia.

The first post by user “apple123321” appeared in late February calling on Chinese employers not to hire those named on the list.


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“I suggest that all the Chinese bosses unite together and create a blacklist group to report all these trouble making international students, so they won’t be hired for the rest of their lives,” the post said.

It posted details identifying the FairGo SA campaigner Say Leng Kapsis and the SA Labour Info Hub activist Jackie Chen, who in February organised a protest against wage theft in the centre of Adelaide’s Chinatown.

Subsequent posts named two others, with the most recent post from Tuesday publishing details identifying one of the young women who confronted her employer at the Fun Tea bubble tea shop in Adelaide over claims she was owed unpaid wages before being allegedly assaulted by another man.

The Working Women’s Centre, which is acting as the legal representative of the woman in her claim against her employer, declined to comment on the incident as it was yet to receive instructions from its client.
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Kapsis told the Guardian the move was part of a campaign being run against those calling out alleged illegality and raising awareness about the issue.

She said that while it had targeted individuals, it extended to friends and associates, with one member of her organisation resigning from the board of FairGo SA after coming under pressure at their job.

“I know they’re watching us. I’ve cursed them,” Kapsis said. “For the young woman, this is very gendered discrimination. This is what happens to us now, those who speak out, the revenge. We’ve been targeted.”

She called the person responsible a coward. “They only dare to do it anonymously because the internet provides all the convenience.”

Chen said he wasn’t concerned about being targeted himself, but was worried about attempts to punish people for speaking out.

“We will not stop. We’re not scared,” Chen said.

A spokesperson for the Fair Work Ombudsman said they could not comment on the specific situation as there was an active investigation underway into underpayment allegations at Fun Tea.

Speaking generally, the spokesperson did say protections were available for workers in the event they experienced “adverse actions” by employers where a complaint had been made and an investigation was active. There is no suggestion by Guardian Australia that the employer in the Fun Tea case had any involvement in the anonymous posts or blacklisting.

The Fair Work spokesperson encouraged anyone within South Australia who was being underpaid to contact the state’s Fair Work Ombudsman and make a complaint. Complaints can be made anonymously in 16 languages.

In Australia, the Fair Work Commission sets the minimum wage. As of 1 July 2020 the absolute minimum wage was $19.84, or $753.80 a week, though the exact minimums change depending on industry and how a worker is classified.


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The South Australian state treasurer, Rob Lucas, would not comment on the specifics of the incident but said the state government “strongly condemns” any employer that underpays their workers or “threatens an employee who speaks up about alleged underpayment”.

“I would strongly encourage any complaints about alleged wage theft, including any alleged discriminatory action against employees who are seeking to be paid their lawful wages and entitlements, to be referred to the [federal] Fair Work Ombudsman for investigation,” Lucas said in a statement.
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Ed Cavanough from the McKell Institute said: “The Morrison government’s weak wage theft measures were always just a cynical political tactic – measures incorporated into the IR bill to win over the crossbench, not to help vulnerable workers.”

“Their decision to abandon their own wage theft legislation [on Thursday] proves how little they care about the issue,” he said.

“If we want to end wage theft, the states must act. Every state must follow Victoria and Queensland’s lead and criminalise intentional underpayment at a state level.”

The owner of the Fun Tea bar previously admitted to paying his workers $10 an hour in a bizarre series of interviews with a prominent Sydney YouTuber.

The man alleged to have assaulted the woman at the venue has since been charged and will face court on 7 May.



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