A Pakistani chef who was forced to work seven days a week for pocket money, with just Christmas day off, has had a €91,000 award against his employer restored by the Supreme Court.

Amnesty International and migrant rights groups have urged the Government to step up plans to close a loophole which means as many as 24,000 undocumented foreign workers have little recourse in cases of exploitation.

A High Court judge made no secret of the fact that the quashing of a €92,000 award to a Pakistani chef who may have been “the victim of the most appalling exploitation by his employer”, gave him little satisfaction.

The High Court has overturned a Labour Court ruling ordering an award-winning Dublin restaurant to pay an exploited migrant worker €86,000 in back pay.

AN award-winning restaurant has yet to pay a migrant worker the €86,000 it owes him after being found guilty of gross exploitation.