AN INDIAN CARE worker was left “penniless and homeless” after a nursing home group cancelled his work and rental contracts following an inspection of his house while he was out of the country, a tribunal was told this week.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard this was compounded by his former employer deducting 25% of a recruitment agency’s fee, amounting to €562.50, from his final payslip – leaving him with a “zero balance” in his bank account.
Windmill Group, a healthcare company which operates nursing homes and residential properties across the country, carried out the eviction after finding an “unclean” kitchen and cabinets along with a damaged boiler at the house where four of its staff lived near its Killeline Care Centre in Newcastlewest, Co Limerick.
It removed three tenants, allegedly citing a concern that “adverse publicity” may be caused to the company following the inspection.
However, two of the former staff and tenants have alleged they were unfairly targetted for eviction and sacking because they were Indian. The company has strongly denied the allegations.
Its barrister Donncha Kiely said the company insists that Indian people are an “integral part” of their business – outlining that “from a self-interest point of view [that] it would not make sense to discriminate against Indians” in the company.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard that the only non-Indian tenant was allowed to keep their job and the accommodation.
Summarising the evidence, Philip Gillespie, representing the two Indian nationals for firm Boyd HR, alleged a raft of issues concerning the contracts which he said were given to workers with limited English.
This left both in a “very vulnerable state and open to exploitation”, Gillespie added.
The company defended providing different contracts to Indian workers, compared with those of Irish workers. Kiely said the company has “accepted that the Irish workers were paid those premiums” (including paid breaks and lunch) when the Indian staff on work permits were not.
The majority of claims referred to during the hearing concerned the allegedly preferential treatment for Irish staff, however, it was also claimed that workers from the EU may have also benefitted from the additional payments.
Kiely added that the Indian staff “did at least as good or better” as they were paid more per hour – €12.31 compared to Irish workers receiving €11.50.
Care worker Jomon Joseph, aged in his early 30s, told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) he felt “on the edge of suicide” after he returned from a month-long stay in India to find himself without a job and no home.
Joseph was recruited on a work permit in May 2022 on a salary of €27,000, with €200 deducted fortnightly for accommodation.
Joseph is one of two Indian nationals who have brought cases against Windmill Group – former tenant and coworker Gracie Philip is the other claimant.
They lived in staff accommodation near the nursing home with two other workers.
In evidence, Joseph told the WRC he and Philip were wrongly blamed for the actions of an Indian coworker who also lived in the house. It’s alleged all three Indian staff had to leave, while an Eastern European worker remained in the house and their job.
Joseph and Philip have made a total of 10 complaints relating to pay and discrimination against the company.
Four claims alleging discrimination under the Equality Act have been made by each. Further complaints relate to pay and the hours of work, as they allege they were not paid for their hour-long breaks.
In defence, Windmill’s barrister Donncha Kiely strongly rejected claims the workers’ treatment was related to their race, as alleged by the former staff.
He said the sackings had “nothing to do” with the staff being Indian and were “solely to do with the accommodation” they resided in.
While Kiely said the company accepts there were “certain failings” in how and what they paid workers, he said it was “not discriminatory”. He outlined Windmill’s stance that Indian staff “were treated differently, but not less favourably”.
After Windmill terminated their workers’ contracts, it next deducted 25% of the recruitment agency’s costs from their final payslips.
Adjudication officer Conor Stokes – who informed parties he previously oversaw Ireland’s work permit system – raised concerns with Windmill over the legality of the deduction.
He told Kiely he wanted to “flag” the issue, adding: “I would like any answer [regarding] how that sits with the Employment Permits Act.”
Kiely said that the workers had a better grasp of English than was claimed, but Gillespie rejected this – he pointed to a performance improvement plan issued for both workers one month before their sacking, saying the “main issue” was their level of English.
Gillespie alleged the two workers were discriminated against due to the non-payment for breaks, Sunday premiums and bank holiday pay.
“They were also paid 11 hours out of a 12-hour shift [but] their terms and conditions required they be paid for their rest periods,” he said.
Kiely said the company accepted this but added: “The point that [Windmill] will make – whether it’s accepted or whether it’s acceptable or not – is that they paid the complainants a greater hourly rate of pay to subsidise them,” Kiely added.
Kiely said an “administrative error” saw the same contract given to all staff, explaining it should have included the additional payments in the Irish workers’ contracts.
“The [company] still says complainants did at least as good or better from a pay perspective,” Kiely said.
“So what I’m hearing you say is that it’s accepted they discriminated against the complainants,” the adjudicator Stokes said, querying whether the company was treating workers “differently on basis of nationality”.
In response, Kiely said the company’s argument is that the Indian workers “were treated differently, but not less favourably”.
Stokes told both parties the case will likely resume in November, where it will hear Philip’s evidence and the responses of Pat Kennedy, director of the Windmill Group, clinical director Denis McElligott and Windmill property manager Louise O’Sullivan.
The WRC heard that friends of Joseph and Philip were able to get them employment elsewhere, three months after they lost their jobs.
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