Bernardine and Thomas McCormack ordered to pay au pair over €5k

The fact that he thought 4 weeks notice was required because "That's what I had to give when I left Dunnes", says it all really.

Clueless people without the slightest shred of common sense or decency. You don't have to know that an au pair is an employee to know that someone doing 54 hour weeks in your house for very little pay is being exploited. There's no excuse for it.

The problem is rooting this stuff out. The kind of stupid or malicious people who will do this are the kind that won't go through an agency. And someone arriving in the country off their own bat isn't going to know the law.

Maybe the LRC should be going into language schools and explaining their rights and how to get help, encouraging immigrant communities to talk to new arrivals about it, and so forth.

I generally understand a solicitors' obligations in regards to protecting their client's interests, but this couple's solicitor tried to argue that the au pair didn't have the protection of the law, because the hours they made her work meant that she was in breach of her contract.

How can anyone stand up in court and make that argument without running home to scrub themselves in bleach afterwards?

I think the world needs to know what cheap bast**ds that walk on other people look like.



The guy in the middle is their solicitor.

People like them make me sick. It really does take an absolute scumbag to exploit someone like this for a prolonged period of time.

On another note I can't understand solicitors who defend people like this in court. How can you work towards helping people like this knowing what they did.

This couple were obviously pretty nasty charging the woman when she left and they seemed to have a very bad attitude towards her. This is not representative of the vast majority of people who use Au Pairs.
There is a real problem with the lack of legislation around Au pairs. Lots of Irish go abroad to work as Au Pairs, learn a language and get to know a society. It can be a great experience if both parties approach it correctly. With poor legislation around both language schools and Au Pairs combined with prohibitive child care costs it leaves many people with no choice but to take a risk. The alternative is a return to one partner having to give up work to raise kids, and this may result in the family loosing their home so is not really an option.
The allowance for accommodation is only 54.13 per week which means that the value of providing food and board in Dublin can not be taken into account against the minimum wage requirements. This leaves many families in a near impossible situation due to government inaction.

Many people seem to have no problem using gig economy apps such as uber and deliveroo to exploit vulnerable workers but then get very preachy and judgemental when it comes to childcare.

seamus wrote: »

The fact that he thought 4 weeks notice was required because "That's what I had to give when I left Dunnes", says it all really.

Clueless people without the slightest shred of common sense or decency. You don't have to know that an au pair is an employee to know that someone doing 54 hour weeks in your house for very little pay is being exploited. There's no excuse for it.

There are anything, but clueless.
They never make a mistake that costs them money.

The guy claims that he thought that she would have to give 4 weeks notice like a Dunnes employee and yet somewhere else he claimed he didn't think she was an employee.

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.

Dirtbag.

seamus wrote: »

The problem is rooting this stuff out. The kind of stupid or malicious people who will do this are the kind that won't go through an agency. And someone arriving in the country off their own bat isn't going to know the law.

Maybe the LRC should be going into language schools and explaining their rights and how to get help, encouraging immigrant communities to talk to new arrivals about it, and so forth.

I generally understand a solicitors' obligations in regards to protecting their client's interests, but this couple's solicitor tried to argue that the au pair didn't have the protection of the law, because the hours they made her work meant that she was in breach of her contract.

How can anyone stand up in court and make that argument without running home to scrub themselves in bleach afterwards?

Ehhh he is a solicitor.
Solicitors have represented the likes of Klaus Barbie, Jeffrey Dahmer, Fred West.

A lot of them put prostitutes to shame and are willing to take anyone's money.

mariaalice wrote: »

The bottom line is they tried to get a nanny for the wages of a au pair but it the rest of it asking her for money when she left really make him nasty.

And asking for the money is probably what pushed her to bring this to court.
If they had just treated her badly like so many others, she may have thought it best to just leave it and move on.

Very glad it went this far and their behaviour was brought to light

Neyite wrote: »

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.

Absolutely. We had a number if Au Pairs when we lived in Dublin and the vast majority of them were really positive for us and the Au Pairs. We are still in touch with quite a few of them. It is nice to see them start their own families.

Aside from our own Au Pairs, we knew quite a lot of others working in Dublin. There are some absolute horror stories. One of the worst, I think, was a French girl who was an Au Pair for a Family in Skerries. She got a call one afternoon from the mother asking her to bring the three children into Dublin to meet them at a restaurant for dinner. She brought the kids (paying their travel form her own money). She arrived at the restaurant and met the parents. The parent took the kids into the restaurant without a word, and left her standing in the street. Absolute scum.

MrP