wages discrimination due to nationality

Mind Hunter 85

hi
i am not sure if this is the right section for this
but anyway
A good friend of mine works in the construction industry ,he is not irish ,
his employer pays him 1/2 of what he pays his irish workers .
why do they think they can do this ? and why is it acceptable ?, the case is he is more experienced than the irish workers ,and the boss is making a mass profit out of him , he has asked for increased wages twice , the last time he asked they listened then never gave him on answer.that was 2months ago.
as he is a trades man anyway he is payed well above minimum wage
but as its stands one of the companies labourers is payed 20% higher wages than him,the other brickalayers are paid 50%higher ,it seems to be a nationallity issue ,have been to BATU [TRADE UNION] but they said that you should be getting paid double what he currently gets
but no one seems to help .
from what i understand the REA AGREEMENT is only voluntary and not mandatory is that right?. he get lower than its minimum .
does anybody know anything about this or any rights he might have .
also his boss claims he is legal and paying taxes but he been with them a year and got no tax credits or P60
if this is the wrong section for this can someone redirect me to the right one please

thank you

JimmySmith

It shis own fault.
Well his and other non irish nationals.
The problem is that they will work for those wages and not do anything about it.
Your friend should get in touch with a solicitor and the solicitor will help him out.
All of these agencies, supposedly there to help with such issues are just window dressing.
I bet if he gets a small pay rise he'll drop any case he has and then himself and all others who are abused like this will be back to square one again.
Get in touch with a solicitor and follow through to the end.

Litcagral

JimmySmith wrote:

It shis own fault.
Well his and other non irish nationals.
The problem is that they will work for those wages and not do anything about it.
Your friend should get in touch with a solicitor and the solicitor will help him out.
All of these agencies, supposedly there to help with such issues are just window dressing.
I bet if he gets a small pay rise he'll drop any case he has and then himself and all others who are abused like this will be back to square one again.
Get in touch with a solicitor and follow through to the end.

That may not help Jimmy. If he is employed for less that 365 days, the employer would be legally entitled to dismiss him without reason. (The Unfair Dismissals Act only applies to those who are employed for longer than 365 days except in exceptional circumstances which do not apply here).

I have no doubt that he would be dismissed if he tried to do anything about it.

Newaglish

Actually, the Unfair Dismissals Act still protects you if you have less than one year's service but are trying to enforce minimum wage guidelines set out by law or an industry agreement.

To be fair though, you could be right, I don't know what the situation is re: discrimination. I assume it's discrimination though, and therefore illegal! I also don;t know is he's being paid more or less than the minimum wage/industry agreed standard

Litcagral

Newaglish wrote:

Actually, the Unfair Dismissals Act still protects you if you have less than one year's service but are trying to enforce minimum wage guidelines set out by law or an industry agreement.

To be fair though, you could be right, I don't know what the situation is re: discrimination. I assume it's discrimination though, and therefore illegal! I also don;t know is he's being paid more or less than the minimum wage/industry agreed standard

The OP states that the person in question is being paid above the minimum wage therefore that exception within the Unfair Dismissals Act would not be applicable. If the person has less than 365 day's sercice the UDA would not apply:

"The Unfair Dismissals Acts apply to an employee who has at least 12 months continuous service with his/her employer. However the Acts will apply to the dismissal of an employee who has less than 12 months continuous service if the dismissal results wholly or mainly from:

Trade union membership or activity;
An employee's pregnancy, giving birth or breastfeeding or any matters connected therewith;
The exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of a right under the Maternity Protection Act, 1994;
An employee's entitlements, future entitlements, exercise or proposed exercise of rights under the National Minimum Wage Act, 2000;
The exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of the right to adoptive leave or additional adoptive leave under the Adoptive Leave Act, 1995;The exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of the right to parental leave or force majeure leave under the Parental Leave Act, 1998
The exercise or proposed exercise by an employee of the right to carer's leave under the Carer’s Leave Act, 2001."

dermot_sheehan

ASTA20 wrote:

hi
i am not sure if this is the right section for this
but anyway
A good friend of mine works in the construction industry ,he is not irish ,
his employer pays him 1/2 of what he pays his irish workers .
why do they think they can do this ? and why is it acceptable ?, the case is he is more experienced than the irish workers ,and the boss is making a mass profit out of him , he has asked for increased wages twice , the last time he asked they listened then never gave him on answer.that was 2months ago.
as he is a trades man anyway he is payed well above minimum wage
but as its stands one of the companies labourers is payed 20% higher wages than him,the other brickalayers are paid 50%higher ,it seems to be a nationallity issue ,have been to BATU [TRADE UNION] but they said that you should be getting paid double what he currently gets
but no one seems to help .
from what i understand the REA AGREEMENT is only voluntary and not mandatory is that right?. he get lower than its minimum .
does anybody know anything about this or any rights he might have .
also his boss claims he is legal and paying taxes but he been with them a year and got no tax credits or P60
if this is the wrong section for this can someone redirect me to the right one please

thank you

Illegal under Employement Equality Act 1998
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1998_21.html

Contact the equality tribunal:

http://www.equalitytribunal.ie/

JimmySmith

As Gabhain7 says - Its equality you should be tackling this under, not Unfair dismissal or minimum wage.
The reason i say go to a solicitor is that they will be a one stop shop for all his needs for advice, action, protection etc.
Nobodies advice here will even come close to that of a solicitor.

Our man in Havana

ASTA20 wrote:

hi
also his boss claims he is legal and paying taxes but he been with them a year and got no tax credits or P60
if this is the wrong section for this can someone redirect me to the right one please

thank you

The Unfair dismissals act applies fully in this case. Dismissal due to taking legal action against the employer is covered under the act.

Litcagral

Bond-007 wrote:

The Unfair dismissals act applies fully in this case. Dismissal due to taking legal action against the employer is covered under the act.

Yes, but f the employee has less than one year's service it would not apply:

Unfair Dismissals Act 1977

Section 2 Part 1

"This Act shall not apply in relation to any of the following persons (a) an employee.............who is dismissed, who, at the date of his dismissal, had less than one year's continous service with the employer who dismissed him..........".

Victor

ASTA20 wrote:

from what i understand the REA AGREEMENT is only voluntary and not mandatory is that right?. he get lower than its minimum

Registered Employment Agreements are binding on everyone in that particular industry.

Note that the rates in the agreement may be substantially lower than those in the market place and make sure that he is fully qualified based on the requirements for that trade, as if he qualified here.

babybundy

anything less than the rates should be refused i got laid off last week but still turned down work i'm not greedy just wont be exployted

jimmycrackcorm

Its supply and demand. If the guy is not happy he should look for a job elsewhere especially if he can't get any union help.