Linh was propositioned by her cafe owner boss to perform sexual favours in exchange for a $50 increase to her weekly wages on top of her meagre hourly rate of $15.
The labour rights advocate was shocked and knew speaking out, as a young Vietnamese woman on a student visa capped at 20 hours of work, could have dire consequences.
Her experience was one of many compiled by Unions NSW, in an extensive survey of 3388 migrant women conducted over a year across several industries. The report found more than half (51 per cent) have experienced workplace sexual harassment.
"He grabbed my face, he kissed me right on my lips, I froze," she said at the report launch on Thursday.
"I had lots of doubts since I wasn't really sure was this normal? Was this a cultural difference?
"I told him I wanted to go home, he became immediately aggravated and I was shocked, I was very scared. I had all these terrifying feelings."
She went to the local police station to report the abuse but felt helpless because they asked for evidence the incident happened.
The highest rate of sexual harassment recorded in the report, entitled Disrespected, Disregarded and Discarded, was in the construction industry where more than four in five (82 per cent) of respondents reported harassment.
This was followed by 53 per cent in horticulture, 51 per cent in hospitality, 50 per cent in retail and 41 per cent in the cleaning industry.
Mark Morey, secretary of the peak body for NSW unions, said the pervasive societal problem was compounded for migrant women dealing with unscrupulous bosses exploiting their workers' precarious visa conditions.
"We have a long way to go with employers just to admit they have a problem," he told reporters.
"We have a cultural problem in Australia where there are racist and sexist stereotypes of women of multicultural backgrounds and that behaviour needs to be challenged in the workplace not just by women but also men taking a stand to say that behaviour is not OK."
Migrant women are usually reluctant to report incidents, with 50 per cent saying they were concerned that raising the alarm on sexual harassment could result in losing their job, which in turn could affect their visa status.
Nearly a quarter of respondents in the survey reported unwelcome touching, hugging, kissing, or invasion of space (23 per cent) and one in five said they had experienced inappropriate physical contact (20 per cent).
The majority of participants were on temporary visas (83 per cent) and came from 55 nations with the top four countries of origin being China, Colombia, Nepal and Brazil.
The survey found women on temporary visas do not think their employers are doing enough to protect them from sexual harassment, with a significant number quitting their jobs because they felt in danger.
A large number of women said that when they tried to defend themselves they were hit with repercussions including being fired, having shifts cut and threats of deportation.
"Too often the response of many employers is to try and deport the problem when it comes to sexual harassment and wage theft," said Environment Minister and one-time Minister for Women Tanya Plibersek on Thursday.
The Albanese government issued a world-first Workplace Justice Visa in July enabling migrant workers to stay in Australia while enforcing their labour rights, with in-built protection from having visas cancelled for pursuing justice.
The Unions NSW report recommended strengthening reporting protections for the Workplace Justice Visa to ensure the power imbalance between migrant women and perpetrators does not work against the women.
By coming forward publicly to detail her repeated experiences of harassment, Linh said she hopes it will empower others to do the same.
"Many migrant workers cannot share their stories due to the lack of support and language barriers ... I want them to know they are not alone."
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
