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Job seekers say their employers put them in positions where they were given just one shift every fortnight, had to clean up large amounts of human waste and stopped their payments after a close family member died.
In one case, Rebecca, who did not want her surname used, said her disability care provider, Multiple Solutions, registered her as a sole contractor and gave her a role in cleaning a retirement home in Gawler, South Australia, without the hair to tell. she was technically independent.
"They said they had found me a job... they never brought up the fact that it was self-employed," she said.
A complaint sent to the Ministry of Social Affairs by her social worker outlines that Rebecca has poor arithmetic and difficulty reading and writing, meaning she needs help filling out forms. Multiple Solutions said it could not comment on specific circumstances, but the disability provider promoted "choice and control" among job seekers.
Related: Centrelink urged the suspension of mutual obligations during periods of extreme heat
After starting the job, Rebecca said her social worker asked her what type of contract she had and she realized her pay stub did not include any information about taxes.
She said she had set up an ABN months in advance but didn't understand what it was for.
"I was scared because if you don't pay taxes you get fined and you can get into trouble," Rebecca said. "I think they should have explained it."
Rebecca's counselor now helps her relocation providers, but the situation left her feeling distressed.
In late November, a scathing review of the Workforce Australia system said the decades-long complete privatization of Australia's employment system had failed, and urged the government to re-establish a Commonwealth employment agency.
I had seven bags of contaminated feces and urine that I had to remove from the property
But welfare advocates say this didn't go far enough: The commission shied away from eliminating cross-compensation, the policy that forces job seekers to complete tasks such as applying for jobs or pursuing training, or their payments will be stopped. They say the provider system, which will cost $9.5 billion over the next four years, pushes people into unstable roles.
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Brad, who did not want his real name used, was an education consultant who often worked with WISE, one of the country's largest job providers. After suffering a nervous breakdown last year, he chose the provider to help him find work.
One job WISE helped him secure was as a home caregiver for Home Instead, one of the nation's largest health care providers. But he was only offered a few hours of work a week. During a fourteen-day period, his pay stub showed that he received only $28.73 for one hour of work.
"I wouldn't call that employment," he said.
"It wasn't just the one or seven hour service here and there - and then nothing for the rest of the week - it was the fact that it's your gas, it's your transportation. There was no way to cover parking or anything like that."
During one shift, he says, he was forced to clean up human feces. "I had seven bags of contaminated feces and urine that I had to remove from the property."
He claims that when he told WISE he didn't want to do the work one hour a week, he was threatened with suspension of his payments.
Brad then went to JobCo, another employer, where he says he was back in full-time employment within his own education sector within eight weeks.
'Afraid to say no to providers'
In New South Wales, job seeker Brock Chaplain said his payments were stopped by his employment agency Global Skills a week after his mother died in September this year because he failed to keep his appointment. Afterwards, he said he had to attend meetings that clashed with the times he had a paid job.
Related: Centrelink job seekers have had their payments suspended more than 450,000 times in three months
After his mother died, Global Skills offered counseling as a chaplain, but he pushed back his appointment by two weeks. He said he didn't attend because he was grieving and his payments had been suspended.
"They told me, 'Oh yeah, that's all good, no problem,' and then they still lowered my payments and made me call to get everything back in order," Chaplain said.
In August, he sent an email to tell his work provider that he had taken an extra shift at work and needed to reschedule an appointment. In the return email, the provider demanded that he come to the office during his lunch break because it is located in the same shopping center.
"Unfortunately, I don't understand how working around... your work responsibilities is unreasonable," his employment consultant wrote in the response email.
"As long as you receive financial support from the government, you do have requirements according to our participation plan."
Chaplain said he had missed work "at least three or four times" because of meeting times.
Guardian Australia contacted each of the employment providers and was told they could not comment on individual cases.
"WISE Employment is one of Australia's largest not-for-profit employment services providers and has more than 15,000 interactions with community members every day," a spokesperson said.
"That said, if an employer has not met its obligations or expectations, WISE Employment would work with its clients to understand their rights and support them to remedy the situation if necessary."
A spokesperson for Multiple Solutions said: "Multiple Solutions is committed to being a trusted partner for all people with disability, illness or injury seeking employment, and we pride ourselves on our commitment to our customers."
Jeremy Poxon, a welfare lawyer and official at the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union, said the organization was contacted every week by people "saying their service provider is jeopardizing their paid employment with constant demands for appointments, payslip information and other mutual obligation requirements " .
"Usually, providers don't bother to help people find a job at all; instead, they dump them into meaningless, demeaning activities that actually make it harder to find work," Poxon said.
Related: Marie had cancer and had to reach Centrelink. Like millions of Australians, she couldn't get through
Asked by Greens senator Janet Rice about what happened when a service provider acted inappropriately in Senate estimates earlier this year, the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations said it was not tracking an apology or compensation but had "a discussion" with them .
"That means there will be a conversation and then a discussion about ways they can improve," said Claire McDonald, a DEWR director.
Poxon said that while some "providers put people to work, the positions typically have such terrible hours, conditions and wages that no one would ever apply for them without being forced to do so.
"Here our government is essentially funding providers to push disadvantaged people into the crappiest jobs in the labor market."
Economic Justice Australia CEO Kate Allingham said the financial benefits of getting people into work means some providers often push job seekers into unstable positions.
"You see people being forced into jobs that worsen their health conditions, or that are poorly paid, or where they don't have the training or experience," she said. "People are often afraid to say no to providers, who can threaten a four-week payment freeze for 'refusal to work'. And employers end up with people who can't do the job."
Both the DEWR, which funds employment providers, and the DSS, which funds employment services for disabled people, said they could not comment on individual circumstances.
"Disability Employment Service (DES) providers are funded to help people with a disability, injury or health condition find and maintain sustainable employment, a DSS spokesperson said. "The providers work with individual participants to look at their capabilities and understand their motivations and goals."
