She asked about her pay; the café owner kissed her

Valeria Mejia came to Australia with her husband in 2022. In May 2024, aged 23, she started as a casual waitress at a café in Canberra City run by Mr Kehal, the sole director of the company that owned it. She was never given pay slips, and could not make her pay match the hours she knew she had worked.

On 29 July 2024 she tried to raise her pay with him. He avoided the issue and instead told her to go shopping, saying he would pay. Later that shift, when they were briefly alone in the kitchen, he hugged her from behind at the sink, tried to make her take money from his wallet, and kissed her on the lips without her consent. She was frightened, asked the chef not to leave her alone, and never went back.

The next day he sent her message after message apologising. The court later found those apologies were driven by wanting the incident kept quiet and his wife not to find out, not by accepting responsibility. Pay slips the business later gave the Fair Work Ombudsman understated her hours and overstated her pay rate. She had been underpaid $6,079.08.

Represented by the Women’s Legal Centre ACT, she sued under the Fair Work Act, which prohibits sexual harassment in connection with work. The company went into liquidation just before the hearing. Mr Kehal had at first denied the harassment, sparing her cross-examination only when he made full admissions on the day.

The parties agreed that he would personally pay her $50,000 compensation for hurt, distress and humiliation, and $40,000 in penalties, paid to her: $9,390 for the harassment and $30,610 for the breaches of her pay and employment rights. Judge Mansfield checked those agreed figures and approved them. He noted she was young, a migrant and of limited means, and that Mr Kehal had used his authority and the offer of money.