A Hawthorn real estate agency has been forced to hand over thousands of dollars in unpaid wages after illegally exploiting an employee for $9 an hour.

The worker was taking home less than $375 a week while carrying out duties for the real estate business including drafting contracts, assisting buyers and general administration. The national minimum wage is currently $17.70 an hour, or $672.70 a week.

Workplace investigations revealed the payment of illegal wages after the employee – a 28-year-old Chinese national on a temporary graduate visa – sought help from the workplace watchdog.

The case is the latest instance of rampant exploitation of migrant labour in Australia, following a string of similar underpayment scandals exposed in farming, cleaning, manufacturing, retail, hospitality and supermarket trolley-collecting businesses.