Exploited workers missed out on €860k in wages

Workers who were exploited by their employers missed out on almost €900,000 in wages last year, according to an employment rights watchdog.

The inspections of 5,591 workplaces last year found 2,397 breaches of employment legislation — 43% of all checks.

Some 82,468 employees were affected, with the National Employment Rights Authority (Nera) estimating that €861,416 was wrongly withheld from workers in unpaid wages.

The figures, compiled by Nera, were included in a recent report published by the Low Pay Commission on the recommendations for the national minimum wage.

The main offender in terms of unpaid wages was the food and drink sector, where 60% of the 996 inspections found breaches of employment law. In that sector alone, there was almost €290,000 in withheld wages last year.

Inspections in the hair and beauty sector found breaches in 61% of its inspections, albeit just 128 checks were carried out.

The rate of breaches of employment law was 59% in the wholesale and retail sector, with an estimated €188,630 in withheld wages, while 58% of the 45 inspections conducted in the agriculture sector uncovered breaches.

Withheld wages of €143,223 were found in the hotel sector, involving just 47 cases in which breaches were found. There were breaches in employment law in 49% of inspections carried out in the construction sector.

Almost 2,000 cases in which breaches of law were found related to inaccurate or wrong records, while 339 breaches, or 6% of the total, related to the national minimum wage. Issues involving employment permits resulted in 600 breaches — an issue highlighted in the past by groups such as the Migrants Rights Centre of Ireland.

According to the report, the 6% of inspections that showed breaches of the national minimum wage legislation “may not fully reflect the degree of non-compliance insofar as lack of records may ‘hide’ non-compliance”.

According to the report: “Nera sees particular challenges in a number of areas, including unpaid interns/trial periods, domestic workers/au pairs, training rates, undocumented workers, ‘Phoenix’ employers, forced labour/human trafficking, and work permits.”

It said while some of those issues could be down to language barriers or poor record keeping, “others fall more squarely into the area of active exploitation or workers whether through control by employer (food/accommodation), undocumented and invisible work, or long hours of work”.