Spanish backpackers’ months-long battle for thousands in unpaid overtime
A Spanish backpacker who worked at an outback roadhouse says her employer took months to pay thousands of dollars owed in wages, causing her significant stress and souring her Australian adventure.
Andrea Infante and her partner Jorge Feliu worked from September until mid-November this year at Warakurna Roadhouse, which lies 400 kilometres west of Uluru and is run by the Ngaanyatjarra Council.
But they cut their contract two weeks short, after repeated requests for penalty and overtime rates were ignored, which she said left them each about $4,700 out of pocket.
Ms Infante began emailing council staff querying the underpayment from September 27, but said she received no meaningful response.
The Ngaanyatjarra Council finally paid the money owed this week, shortly after it was contacted by the ABC.
A council spokesperson said it was committed to ensuring its employment practices were compliant, and acknowledged the couples’ concerns.
“If we make a mistake, we are genuinely committed to fixing it,” the spokesperson said.
“Our HR team was aware of Jorge and Andrea concerns, and this has been worked through to a positive resolution.”
Ms Infante said she wanted to share their story to encourage others to fight for their entitlements.
She also wanted to warn other travellers, particularly those for whom English was a second language,
“My first language is Spanish so I can’t communicate in English like Spanish,” she said.
“I think … [some employers] think, ‘Oh, it’s foreign people, maybe they’ll say nothing’.”
Warakurna is 1,700 kilometres north-east of Perth. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)
‘In shock’ at the isolation
Ms Infante, 26, and Mr Feliu, 28, came to Australia with dreams of adventure and saving for their own business once they returned to Spain.
Initially, they lived and worked on the Gold Coast.
But after securing two jobs at the roadhouse, they packed up their lives and set off into the outback.
When they finally arrived at their new home, it left a strong first impression.
“The first time I saw Warakurna, I was in shock,” Ms Infante said.
“There’s nothing here — just the roadhouse, that’s it.”
Warakurna is a tiny community of about 200 people, 1,700 kilometres north-east of Perth, and an hour’s drive west of the Northern Territory border.
Warakurna Roadhouse is a 5km drive from the community, and mostly services locals and travellers on the Great Central Road.
Their duties included operating the cash register, filling cars with petrol, cooking, delivering meals and all manner of other roadhouse activities.
Time sheets from September showed they consistently worked more than 60 hours a week, and almost 70 hours one week.
Jorge Feliu working at Warakurna Roadhouse. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)
Ms Infante said Fair Work told her they should receive $44.34 an hour for public holidays and weekends, $63.28 for overtime on public holidays and weekends and $52.93 for overtime when they work more than 38 hours a week.
Yet she said they were only ever paid their standard $34-an-hour rate.
Seeking a solution
“Every day I was thinking, ‘How can I find a solution?'” Ms Infante said.
“It was really, really stressful.”
Jorge Feliu and Andrea Infante working at Warakurna. (ABC Goldfields: Giulia Bertoglio)
She said the area’s isolation made it harder.
“When we had a problem, it was really difficult to go to another place,” Ms Infante said.
“Alice Springs was eight hours in car and sometimes when it was raining, we can’t take the car because the road is dangerous.”
Even when they left to travel around Australia, the issue weighed on her.
“When I was doing the road trip this month, I enjoyed it a lot, but I was thinking,” Ms Infante said.
“My mind was on the problem.”
Advice to other backpackers
She said it was an enormous relief to finally receive the money this week, particularly as the couple are due to leave the country on Monday.
It will hopefully help them launch a small bar selling local produce once they returned home to Zahora, Los Caños de Meca, at Spain’s southern tip.
Ms Infante said her advice to other backpackers coming to Australia would be to learn a little English before they arrived, and not to feel pressured to take the first job that came along.
A Fair Work Ombudsman spokesperson said any workers with concerns about their pay or entitlements should call on 13 13 94, and that a free interpreter service was available on 13 14 50.
