Employers who exploit migrants avoid penalties

Employers who exploit migrant workers are unlikely to face the rigours of the law but even if they do the worker will struggle to get the money owed to them, according to a report.

The report, Severe forms of Labour Exploitation, and supporting such victims in having access to justice in EU member states, was compiled as part of a larger, Europe-wide report published in the summer by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.

Written by Robert Mooney of the Applied Research Centre at UCD, it claims there is still a “lack of awareness of the severity and conditions of labour exploitation” in Ireland. It outlined several key themes which, it said, had been emphasised by those interviewed for the report, including the need for greater awareness of labour exploitation among the general public.

According to the report: “It is the general opinion of interviewees that very few cases are reported; of those that are, very few are brought to official organisations and even fewer are prosecuted. Most cases are settled, and even in these cases enforcing the settlement (eg in the case of payment of wages) is difficult to achieve.

“There are specific sectors of the economy in which the vast majority of the exploitation of migrant communities takes place. The main areas identified in the research include the domestic sector (as evidenced in the case studies which were available to the research) and cleaning, farm labourers, restaurants, and, although outside the scope of this project, illegal areas of the economy such as cannabis production and prostitution.”

The report also said that language barriers and the legal status of the individual are “the biggest issues identified that lead migrants to increasing vulnerability and open them up to exploitation”.

It also states that those who claim to be trafficked for labour exploitation have access to increased protections, including accommodation and asylum in law — but “as a result of this situation, an individual who is illegally working in Ireland can claim that they were trafficked to avail of these services”. n Report: http://fra.europa.eu/sites/default/files/fra_uploads/severe-labour-exploitation-country_ie.pdf