A call has been made on Alan Dillon, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment to protect work permit holders.
The calls from Migrant Rights Centre Ireland comes in the wake of a man being awarded €154K for gross breaches of his employment rights in Co Cavan.
Xiaofeng Gao, a migrant chef from China, has won an award of €154,828 from the Workplace Relations Commission for various serious employment rights breaches during his two years of employment between 2022 and 2024 with Ming Gao (later Eskimo Gao Ming Limited) in Ballyjamesduff, Co. Cavan.
The decision of the WRC, found that he had been subject to payment below the minimum wage, with a total underpayment of €65,505, excessive working hours which exceeded the legal maximum of 48 hours per week. He worked 6-7 days a week, averaging 63-73 hours per week. lack of rest breaks along with racial discrimination and exploitation.
Xiaofeng came to Ireland on an employment permit in July 2022. The employer extracted €30,000 from the worker throughout his employment as a charge for providing this employment permit.
Sylwia Nowakowska, Workplace Rights Coordinator with the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland said Xiaofeng was especially vulnerable, as the holder of an employment permit, he was not permitted to change and work with another employer.
Speaking on today's Joe Finnegan Show, she said more must be done to protect workers in the employment permit system from this type of abuse.
