A young Nepalese woman working casually at a Mad Mex franchise has just made legal history.
The Federal Court awarded her $305,000 after enduring sexual harassment at a fast-food outlet. It’s the highest sexual harassment payout ever ordered in Australia. But the significance of this case goes beyond the dollar figure. It yet again reveals heightened vulnerability of migrant women, the cost of ignoring workplace warning signs, and the dangerous momentum of unchecked power.
Ms Magar was a young woman in her early 20s, newly arrived in Australia on a student visa and working casually just to get by. Her manager, nearly three times her age, used his position to subject her to relentless sexual harassment. Mr Khan made repeated sexualised comments about her body, her clothes, her sex life. He asked if she’d “got banged” after noticing a hickey on her neck, and joked about it out to other staff. On multiple occasions, isolated her in his car, showed her porn and simulated sexual acts using sex toys.
The Court accepted that Mr Khan exploited her age, visa status, and isolation. It found a workplace culture where sexist behaviour was not only tolerated, but normalised.
Managers at the store would routinely make sexualised comments and jokes about female staff and customers such as ‘skanks’, ‘whores’, ‘see the ass she has’. Justice Bromwich found that senior staff “fostered a workplace culture that was disinterested in preventing sexist conduct… and was instead tolerant, or even conducive to its continuation.” That culture, he said, “can have the effect of normalising sexualised behaviour towards women and foster an escalation into worse behaviour, such as a progression into sexual harassment”.
This is what a hostile work environment looks like. Not one explosive incident, but a slow, steady erosion of respect and dignity.
Often, I hear leaders say there’s no sexual harassment in their workplace, but admit everyday sexism exists – not realising that those everyday behaviours can lay the groundwork for more serious harm.
The Court also made a landmark finding on victimisation in the context of defamation threats.
It found that Mr Khan victimised Ms Magar after she tried to pursue her complaint beyond Mad Mex’s internal investigation. When her lawyer wrote to the company outlining potential legal claims, Mr Khan responded by sending two formal “Concerns Notices” through his solicitor – these are documents often used as precursors to defamation threats.
The Court found these notices were sent to pressure Ms Magar into backing down which amounted to unlawful victimisation.
This ruling is a powerful precedent. It sends a clear warning to perpetrators who try to weaponise defamation law to silence victims; using legal threats to shut down a complaint can itself be a breach of the law.
What about the impact? The harassment left Ms Magar traumatised. She described feeling dehumanised, powerless, and trapped in a workplace that failed to protect her. Ms Magar has been unable to return to work in any capacity, more than two years after the incidents. The Court accepted that the psychological harm she suffered was severe, ongoing, and directly linked to the harassment and the workplace’s failure to act.
This experience is not rare. What is rare is that she spoke up.
Migrant women are among the most at risk and least likely to report. Research from Unions NSW found that while half of surveyed migrant women experienced sexual harassment, 70 per cent never reported it. The AHRC’s Speaking from Experience report shows similar patterns amongst culturally and racially marginalised women: fear of job loss, visa issues, language barriers, and mistrust of internal processes keep women silent.
We can’t keep asking women like Ms Magar to be the fix.
The law is clear. Since 2022, every employer, regardless of the size of their business, has a positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act to eliminate sexual harassment.
That means prevention and responding effectively. That means acting on the full spectrum of sexually harassing behaviour, including everyday sexism. That means building safe and accessible pathways to speak up.
This is why I created SafeSpace@elevate, to support businesses do exactly that. Our platform offers independent, trauma-informed reporting and wraparound support, including anonymous options. It was built for workers like Ms Magar—those who are least likely to feel safe going to HR.
Most people who experience sexual harassment don’t want compensation. They want it to stop. They want to feel safe at work. They want to be treated with dignity.
Ms Magar’s remarkable courage forced accountability. But it should not take a Federal Court case to trigger change.
A final note to business leaders: if you’re waiting for a lawsuit before you act, you’ve already failed. A safe, respectful and inclusive workplace culture doesn’t arise by chance. It requires clear intent from leadership, sustained investment, and ongoing action every single day.
Feature image: Prabha Nandagopal.