HALF OF migrant restaurant workers don’t even earn the minimum wage and most never receive employment contracts, a shocking new study has revealed.
HALF OF migrant restaurant workers don’t even earn the minimum wage and most never receive employment contracts, a shocking new study has revealed.
According to the report undertaken by the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), some 53 per cent of migrants working in catering don’t get the legal minimum wage, while just under half don’t get breaks. Some 84 per cent did not receive a contract or terms of employment
The information, released this week, is based on the results of 115 one-hour surveys of non-EU migrant workers employed in restaurants in Ireland.
The MRCI’s restaurant workers’ action group has called on the Government to take immediate action such as passing legislation allowing labour inspectors to impose fines on abusive employers.
Minimum legal hourly wages for the catering sector are slightly higher than the national minimum wage of €8.65. Workers are entitled to a 15-minute break after 4.5 hours of work and a further break of 15 minutes after more than six hours of work (which can be a 30 minute break if the first one is missed). Breaks are unpaid, with the exception that in Dublin and Dun Laoghaire the first 15-minute break is paid.
Employers are legally obliged to put the printed ERO (employment regulation order) for the catering industry in a prominent position at the place of work.
