Bernardine and Thomas McCormack ordered to pay au pair over â‚¬5k

voz es · 02-02-2018 09:28AM #1

A reported 54 hours a at an effective hourly rate of €2.78 then when the Brazilian au pair quits, they demanded €540.00 from them because they didn't give enough notice.

I think it is a disgusting way to treat another, glad they had to pay up.

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2018/0201/937665-labour-court-au-pair/

Annasopra · 02-02-2018 09:42AM

Good.

She was employed by them and should have been getting entitlements as an employee. Cant believe they made her pay to leave.

Its about Ireland cracked down on this au pair stuff. Girls doing sometimes almost 100 hours a week and getting paid about 2 euro an hour is exploitation.

A friend did resrarch on it. She told me about nightmares; 1 girl paying every time she had a hot shower, 1 girl not allowed cook her own food, 1 girl had the Dad sleazing on her and walking in all the time while she was in the bathroom. There is also the "live out" au pair - feckin childminder.

baylah17 · 02-02-2018 09:52AM

Totally disgusting behavior but alas not uncommon.
The fact that they fought the case to the bitter end says a lot about them and their sense of entitlement!

voz es · 02-02-2018 09:56AM

I am sure the good experiences have out weighed that bad 20 fold but, there is a real need for legislation specifically to target those who take advantage of a person in a vulnerable position like that.

granturismo · 02-02-2018 09:57AM

I hope the au-pair got costs awarded to her as well, there's no mention of costs in the RTE report. It would be another blow if she had to pay her legal costs from her just award.

valoren · 02-02-2018 10:00AM

Solicitor Richard Grogan who represented the McCormacks said he had no comment.

Says it all if you'll pardon the pun, if your solicitor can't even bring himself to say anything on your behalf it speaks volumes for the scumbaggery on display.

vicwatson · 02-02-2018 10:01AM

She should have been awarded more, did Mr McCormack not know the minimum wage, these idiots sicken me, it’s slave labour, end of.

hobie21 · 02-02-2018 10:02AM

That couple are vile bottom feeding scumbags. This would be a good entry for the "stingiest people ever" thread on boards. Taking all her money when she wanted to leave...unbelievable.

suicide_circus · 02-02-2018 10:04AM

Dickheads

Hitman3000 · 02-02-2018 10:05AM

Hopefully it will put the frighteners on other chancers.

Wanderer78 · 02-02-2018 10:06AM

Hitman3000 wrote:

Hopefully it will put the frighteners on other chancers.

Probably not, they might just hide it better

DavidLyons_ · 02-02-2018 10:09AM

What a pair of fcuking cnuts.

s15r330 · 02-02-2018 10:10AM

Are we not going to talk about the name Bernardine, absolute state of that

granturismo · 02-02-2018 10:11AM

The language school is obviously a scam. The au-pair had a 92% attendance record yet worked from '7am to 5pm every day - plus four additional hours babysitting'.

lawred2 · 02-02-2018 10:14AM

This carry on is not unique..

suicide_circus · 02-02-2018 10:15AM

granturismo wrote: »

The language school is obviously a scam. The au-pair had a 92% attendance record yet worked from '7am to 5pm every day - plus four additional hours babysitting'.

All language schools in ireland exist for the sole purpose of signing off on student attendance so they can work while generating massive profits for the school owners. It's going on for years. I taught in one in dublin for a few weeks around 2009.

vicwatson · 02-02-2018 10:36AM

Should have said in the first place that fair play to Dayana Jonson Goncalves Generoso for having the guts to take the case against these freeloaders

diomed · 02-02-2018 11:02AM

valoren wrote: »

Solicitor Richard Grogan who represented the McCormacks said he had no comment.

Says it all if you'll pardon the pun.

Richard Grogan

Gama reaction: Turkish workers treated like ‘slaves’,
The workers say they are owed a cumulative sum of €40.3 million as part of a dispute going back over a decade.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/gama-reaction-turkish-workers-treated-like-slaves-says-solicitor-1.2303900

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/new-gama-blow-as-accountants-break-ties-over-staff-treatment-25987137.html
The revelations proved embarrassing to senior PWC staff who attended meetings in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire, where Gama executives and Mr Grogan assured union officials that it was fully compliant with Irish labour legislation and was paying the industry-agreed wages to all workers.

Gama "imports" workers from Turkey and paid them around €2-€3 per hour in breach of the minimum wage law.

BillyBobBS · 02-02-2018 11:11AM

Joeytheparrot wrote: »

Good.

She was employed by them and should have been getting entitlements as an employee. Cant believe they made her pay to leave.

Its about Ireland cracked down on this au pair stuff. Girls doing sometimes almost 100 hours a week and getting paid about 2 euro an hour is exploitation.

A friend did resrarch on it. She told me about nightmares; 1 girl paying every time she had a hot shower, 1 girl not allowed cook her own food, 1 girl had the Dad sleazing on her and walking in all the time while she was in the bathroom. There is also the "live out" au pair - feckin childminder.

Ireland won't be cracking down on this sort of stuff reason being plenty of the well to do's use slave au pair labour.

MissShihTzu · 02-02-2018 11:11AM

Got the idea of four weeks notice from when he worked in Dunnes Stores.
Didn't have a clue about Employment Law.
Charged the girl €510 to leave.

Clueless my foot! More like the McCormacks were trying to keep up with the Joneses and striped the poor girl thinking she wouldn't dare complain. Cheap as chips.

Glad they had to pay up. Scum.

ohnonotgmail · 02-02-2018 11:12AM

MissShihTzu wrote: »

Got the idea of four weeks notice from when he worked in Dunnes Stores.
Didn't have a clue about Employment Law.
Charged the girl €510 to leave.

Clueless my foot! More like the McCormacks were trying to keep up with the Joneses and striped the poor girl thinking she wouldn't dare complain. Cheap as chips.

Glad they had to pay up. Scum.

well they actually charged her 540 to leave. They only took 510 because that is all the cash she had.

Wanderer78 · 02-02-2018 11:13AM

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

well they actually charged her 540 to leave. They only took 510 because that is all the cash she had.

ffs

suicide_circus · 02-02-2018 11:16AM

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

well they actually charged her 540 to leave. They only took 510 because that is all the cash she had.

Sounds like Dunnes Stores in fairness

Podge_irl · 02-02-2018 11:16AM

At last month's hearing, Thomas McCormack told the Labour Court that he "hadn't a clue" that he was entering into an employer-employee relationship with Ms Generoso, or that a person working in his home had the same rights as other workers.

Mr McCormack told the Labour Court he got the idea that she would have to give four weeks' notice from when he worked in Dunnes Stores, where he would have had to give four weeks notice.

So he figured she had no rights as she wasn't an employee, yet was somehow mysteriously obliged to give 4 weeks notice as if she was an employee.

Also, the solicitor genuinely tried to make an argument that she had no rights as she was working an illegal number of hours? The brazen stupidity of that is disturbing.

Neyite · 02-02-2018 11:19AM

An au-pair arrangement when it's done properly, can be a mutually beneficial arrangement but all too often it's exploitative and underpaid.

They are supposed to be treated as part of the family, rather than formal childcare. They are supposed to get time to study/attend classes, live in the home and enough money for personal weekly expenses outside of accommodation and food costs.

This greedy couple wanted a slave. I'm glad that she got awarded the full amount she should have been paid.

lawred2 · 02-02-2018 11:22AM

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

well they actually charged her 540 to leave. They only took 510 because that is all the cash she had.

wow

imagine being that much of an uncaring miserly scumbag

but then I suppose that goes with the territory of subcontracting out parenting to someone you're keeping in penury

suicide_circus · 02-02-2018 11:23AM

I'm no fan of compo culture but in this case I think additional damages would have been fully justified for this girl

theteal · 02-02-2018 11:27AM

€150 a week??? They pulled some stroke there.

Our nursery is £70 a day!

Mardy Bum · 02-02-2018 11:31AM

Vile individuals.

diomed · 02-02-2018 11:32AM

The photo of the three people leaving the court
Birds of a feather fly together.

Jimbob1977 · 02-02-2018 11:33AM

It's the kind of behaviour you'd expect in Saudi Arabia or the UAE.

Bring over a Filipino housekeeper, steal her passport and treat her like a slave.

Unfortunately, in situations where both parents work in Ireland, many want to have the lifestyle to which they are accustomed.

But their pesky kids get in the way. Hiring a low cost au pair will save them a fortune. It's an embarrassment for our country.

As for the solicitor.... he is just a product of the legal profession. Amoral and unfeeling.

Bernardine and Thomas McCormack ordered to pay au pair over â‚¬5k

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