A migrant chef who was subjected to “humiliating and degrading treatment” after borrowing a “substantial” sum to come to Ireland for work, with his last week’s wages being “thrown on the floor”, has been awarded more than €28,000 for employment law breaches and racial discrimination.
Jinxiu Zheng told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that there are many workers in similar situations, having come to Ireland on borrowed money and finding themselves dependent on their employers for their work permit and accommodation.
Mr Zheng secured the awards against restaurant operator Ming Feng Ltd on foot of complaints to the WRC over what happened during his stint with the company between July 2022 and January 2023.
The worker, who was represented in the case by Cian Beecher, a partner in Arthur Cox’s employment law division on the instructions of the Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland, said he had borrowed money from friends and family to pay a “substantial” sum towards a recruitment fee – agreeing to come to Ireland and work for five years.
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Mr Zheng told the WRC the contract agreed before travelling to Ireland promised him pay of €15.78 an hour for a 39-hour working week with a 30 cent hourly Sunday premium.
Instead, he said he got €300 in cash for working between 50 and 60 hours every week, getting a break of just five or ten minutes to eat.
He told the WRC that there was a dispute with the director over an “outstanding recruitment fee” – and that he was told he would be “replaced with another foreign worker” and have his work permit cancelled.
In January 2023, a director of Ming Feng asked him to sign a letter stating that he was “resigning on good terms” and surrendering his employment permit, Mr Zheng said. The chef said he refused to sign.
Mr Zheng said he got no pay for his last week at work until February 14th last 2023, when the outstanding €300 was “thrown on the floor” by one of the directors.
The man, who had been assisted by an interpreter in giving his evidence, told the WRC: “There [are] many others who worked in similar circumstances who could not do anything ... They [came] to Ireland on borrowed money and [are] dependent on their employers for their work permit and accommodation.”
There was no appearance at the hearing on behalf of the restaurant company – only a letter sent to the WRC by its management that denied discrimination, disputed some of the chef’s account of his working hours and stated that there had been no agreement to pay for his rent and food expenses.
Accepting the uncontested evidence of the worker, Mr Clinton said the working hours, rate of pay and overtime pay was “different” from other staff, while the company had also been “tardy” in organising the worker’s tax affairs.
“He was treated less favourably than other staff who were not foreign nationals relying on a work permit,” the adjudicator said, finding that there had been discrimination “on race grounds”.
“He was pressured to sign a resignation letter without understanding or getting assistance as to what it meant. Shortly afterwards he had his last week’s wages thrown on the ground,” Mr Clinton wrote.
This was “indicative of the humiliating and degrading treatment over the course of [the] employment”, Mr Clinton wrote, amounting to harassment on the grounds of race.
The adjudicator awarded the chef €15,000 for discrimination and a further €10,000 in redress for the harassment he suffered.
Mr Clinton also ordered the company to pay him €1,525 for arrears on the minimum wage of €10.50 an hour over the entirety of his employment – making a deduction of €500 for food and accommodation provided to the worker.
Mr Zheng was also awarded €250 under the Payment of Wages Act for an underpayment during the last ten days of his employment, which was the only period for which the worker could recover wages beyond the minimum wage because of the six-month time limit on a claim under that legislation.
There was also €1,800 in compensation for excessive weekly working hours, non-payment of annual leave entitlements and the failure to provide for shift breaks in breach of the Organisation of Working Time Act.
The awards against Ming Feng Ltd in the case totalled €28,275.
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