An Adelaide man says he felt “powerless” and disrespected when two employees from his disability employment agency turned up at his house without permission or prior warning, a likely breach of government guidelines.
Jobseeker Franklin Araya, 59, said two employees from Multiple Solutions arrived at his home unannounced on Friday, 8 January.
He said they asked him to sign a form that indicated he had been working for a certain number of weeks and hours – documentation that can allow providers to claim bonuses, known as outcome payments, though there is no allegation the information on the form was false.
The incident bears similarities to a case last year, where a newly unemployed man said he felt harassed by an employment agency job coach who showed up at his home unannounced and which Guardian Australia can reveal resulted in a “breach notice” being issued to the provider.
Araya, who said he has a chronic illness, said when he spotted the two staff members from the disability employment service provider outside his house, he was “completely confused”.
“They said, ‘Franklin, congratulations, you’re doing very well, we’ve got a $50 voucher for you,’” Araya told Guardian Australia.
“I was confused. I said, ‘Why do you want to give me a voucher?’ ‘Oh, well, because you completed 12 weeks’ work.’ I wanted to be positive, so I just grabbed it. But they said, ‘Before you get this you have to sign a paper.’
“This is the issue here, this was when I felt powerless.”
It is likely the consultants had in fact referred to 13 weeks of employment, a marker of sustained employment referred to in the government’s contracts with providers.
Because those in the disability employment service program often find it difficult to obtain work, providers can claim up to $2,860 in outcome fees if their client is employed over 13 weeks, a higher bonus than in the jobactive program.
Araya said he did as he was asked because he did not want to cause trouble and had been concerned about having his payments suspended, but after they left he began to feel differently.
“It was an invasion of privacy [and showed] a lack of respect,” he said.
Araya has been working since late September as a residential care worker in a job, however he insisted he arranged the position by himself through a friend.
He said over the past few months he had been providing his payslips to his employment consultant at their request. But in the last fortnight of December, he said the consultant had “asked me continuously for my last payslip”, which he did not yet have.
“I was fed up and I said, ‘Look, I can’t send you anything because I don’t have it. It’s not because I don’t want to,’” he said.
After that exchange, on Friday, the consultants turned up at his house.
Karin Ridgeway, Multiple Solutions general manager of employment services, said that as the non-profit provider dealt with “people with varying levels of disability and mobility, at times it may be appropriate to attend a client’s home, workplace, or other site they are comfortable with”.
“If a client requests that we do not attend, we would respect that request,” she said.
“We are aware of how this aspect of the matter was managed. We are satisfied that it was handled properly and appropriately.”
A Department of Social Services spokesperson told Guardian Australia it would investigate the incident.
“DES providers are required to deliver services at locations outlined in their Grant Agreement, unless agreed to by the department,” the spokesperson said.
“Delivery of services outside of these locations, including participants’ private residences, is strictly not permitted.
“The department takes all allegations seriously and Multiple Solutions will be required to explain its alleged contact with the complainant. Following the investigation, the Department will consider options for further action, if required.”
His daughter, Raquel Araya, 27 and a volunteer with the Australian Unemployed Workers Union, was furious when she learned the consultants had visited their family home.
Raquel Araya said the incident “shouldn’t be overlooked” by the department and she has filed a complaint with Multiple Solutions.
“I felt angry,” she said. “Just from previous experiences that my dad has had, it just seemed like it was a matter of relying on my dad to not know his rights.”
Last year, the Department of Employment launched an investigation after another jobseeker, Thomas Roker, told the New Daily his consultant had also turned up at his house, asking him to sign a job plan.
In response, Nathan Smyth, a top department official, told a Senate committee hearing in August that home visits were “not part of the servicing arrangements at all”.
Asked about the investigation into Roker’s case, a Department of Employment spokesperson told Guardian Australia it had now “concluded that the provider did not have reasonable grounds to conduct the home visit”.
“This constituted a breach of the provider’s obligations under the jobactive deed,” the spokesperson said.
The department issued a “breach notice” which included directions to cease unannounced visits and ensure all staff had conducted “refresher privacy training”.
Kristin O’Connell, a spokesperson for the union, called on the department to hold job agencies accountable.
“The job agencies already know they shouldn’t be doing this, but clearly they feel confident they can get away with it,” she said.
Ridgeway said providers were required to collect proof of a client’s continuing employment milestones at four, 13, 26 and 52 weeks.
“This usually is in the form of payslips or, in instances where payslips are not yet available, clients may sign documentation for proof of employment or hours worked,” she said.
Ridgeway said any complaint would be “dealt with appropriately and, where appropriate, will inform continued improvement in our practices”.
