Labour court award for woman paid €2.50 per hour

A German woman, paid €2.50 per hour, while working for a Clare business, has been awarded more than €4,300 by the Labour Court.
Owners of a North Clare B&B were ordered to pay the woman who worked for them in 2009 €4,346.67 after the Labour Court dismissed their appeal against a previous decision of the Rights Commissioner.
Armin Grefkes and Bernadette Moloney-Grefkes advertised on a German website a full-time work experience job vacancy in Drumcreehy House in Ballyvaughan for the summer season of 2009. Marika Lubig, a German national, who was unemployed in Germany at the time, came across the advertisement and applied for the job.
Following an exchange of correspondence and some telephone conversations, Mr Grefkes and Ms Moloney-Grefkes offered Ms Lubig the job on the basis that they would pay her €100 per week and in addition would provide her and her husband with free accommodation, access to a car and the use of the their computer and internet access for the purposes of making Skype calls home.
Ms Lubig took up the position and was employed by Mr Grefkes and Ms Moloney-Grefkes from March 15, 2009, to September 16 that year.
She subsequently claimed that she was not paid the national minimum wage during the time of her employment and the Rights Commissioner decided in her favour following a hearing on March 1 last year. The commissioner awarded her €4,084.05, the amount to which she was entitled under the Act. However, Mr Grefkes and Ms Moloney-Grefkes appealed this to the Labour Court.
The Labour Court found that Ms Lubig worked 40 hours per week for which she was paid €100, amounting to an hourly rate of €2.50, while the national minimum wage at the time was €8.65 per hour.
“Whilst it is clear that the parties intended that the arrangement they were entering into was in the nature of a contract of employment to enable both [Ms Lubig] and her husband to gain English language experience and to resettle in Ireland, it was not a course of study or training authorised by the employer within the workplace or elsewhere during normal hours,” the court found.
Ms Lubig worked 887 hours during the course of her employment at Drumcreehy House and was entitled to a total payment of €7,672.55. She was paid €2,217.50 by Mr Grefkes and Ms Moloney-Grefkes in respect of the hours she worked.
“Accordingly, and having regard to the allowances for board and lodgings applicable, she was underpaid in the amount of €4,346.67,” the Labour Court found, and therefore rejected Mr Grefkes and Ms Moloney-Grefkes’ appeal, ordering them to pay Ms Lubig €4,346.67.