Fran

‘I don't know anyone who is disabled and unemployed, or even just unemployed, who doesn't want to find a job or some way of participating in society in a meaningful way. We are just like everyone else and deserve the same levels of consideration and dignity.’

Fran became very ill in the early 2010s. She was diagnosed with severe clinical depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

‘I was very vulnerable, very unsure of myself and open to exploitation by others.’

She was keen to improve her physical and mental health and told the Royal Commission she decided to look for any paid work she could get.

Fran signed up to a job service agency and the case manager found her a job in a restaurant. He told her it was full time and she’d be paid the minimum wage.

She was very excited but said ‘I was puzzled that I was not given any paperwork to fill out.’

Juggling hot plates and piles of dishes, Fran had to constantly navigate steep stairs to the kitchen. She was worried if she slipped and fell she may not be covered for workers compensation.

On her first day she worked eight hours without a break. At the end of the second day the owner approached her and suggested he pay her cash in hand, well below the minimum wage. He told her that way she could keep collecting unemployment benefits.

Fran declined the offer.

At the end of the week she received her pay – it was around $5 per hour. The following week she told the owner she’d found another job, even though she hadn’t.

Fran kept looking for work and found a job stacking shelves in a supermarket. After a few months a caseworker from the job service agency contacted her. She wanted details about the job Fran was doing.

‘I had the strong feeling that she was after the information so that her agency could claim a bonus for placing me in long-term employment, even though they had had nothing to do with finding me the job. I'd done it myself, contacting many places … and sending in my resume. I felt exploited by the job agency.’

A short while later Fran needed to quit the job at the supermarket. She started receiving the Disability Support Pension, but she was still keen to work. She registered with a Disability Employment Service (DES).

Fran said the DES did nothing to help her get a job. Frustrated, she paid hundreds of dollars to a professional resume writer to rewrite her resume. Through her own efforts she secured another job. Fran suspects the DES caseworker stole her resume and passed it off as her own work. The caseworker also claimed the job outcome.

‘By this time I felt disillusioned and also disgusted at the way the privatised job network agencies that had replaced the old Commonwealth Employment Service seemed to be exploiting their clients and claiming bonuses they hadn't earned.’

Fran’s health deteriorated and she left the job but for a time continued with her studies and volunteer work.

‘I dread the thought of ever having to engage with whatever form the privatised job agencies take these days again. I strongly feel that it is largely a system that exploits clients and claims taxpayer bonuses and funding that it is not entitled to. As an older disabled woman, living with both psychosocial and physical disabilities, I feel I have been exploited and abused by these agencies.’