"It's not fair. It's my only income. "
A man in melbourne was fired by a scruple employer for living in a "hot spot" of the outbreak.
The unnamed man lives in government district, one of the six hot spots in Virginia earlier this week – virus can spread through the community.
People living outside these "official propaganda" hot spots are urged to avoid footfall, but chief medical officer murphy (Brendan Murphy) says authorities do not want people living in hot spots to lose their jobs.
The man, who needs to support his family and has no other source of income, says he lost his job when his previous company was forced to close in March.
He found a full-time temporary job through an intermediary company two months ago and needed him to go to work from home to Melbourne CBD.
But last week, when COVID-19 cases began to soar in his area, he was told that the company no longer needed him.
"I'm sorry that there is no such directive to allow employers to discriminate simply because of the employee's place of residence ," he said. It's discrimination, right? "
His work unit told him that they had followed the advice of the Australian Health Protection Committee that "people in affected areas should limit travel ".
"When we started working, we received a letter saying that we were the necessary service workers in case of being questioned by the police on the way to and from work, but now it seems completely empty ," the man said. "
"Public health officials do not have practical mandatory instructions that we can not work, which is outright discrimination. "
He added that other family members also work in the hospitality industry and that "none of us are entitled to any Centrelink benefits. "
He was also "much more careful than most" in keeping social distance ," because he was ill ".
The man's case is only one of 100 similar cases. The times newspaper reported that a large labor company that provided contractors to Centrelink told employees living in COVID-19 hot spots that they would be suspended under a directive issued Services Australia Centrelink parent company.
Services Australia General Manager Zhong Gen (Hank Jongen) made a statement about the affected employees.
"We have advised these staff to stay at home and need to verify and follow up on the latest health advice, and to minimize unnecessary access to these areas ," he said. "
It is unclear when or whether employees affected by the decision will be allowed to return to work.
