The owner of a mushroom farm must pay a worker 15,000 for failing to pay her the minimum wage for an 80-hour week – while concealing falsified details of her working hours when she signed off on them.
The adjudicator investigating her complaint has branded it “a most heinous breach of her employment rights”.
Ana Lacramioara Manciu complained under the National Minimum Wage Act against Co Tipperary mushroom grower Stablefield Limited, alleging she earned just 2,093 a month for working an 85-hour week.
The company is owned by Thomas and Eleanor Sweeney of Killeatin, Clogheen, Co Tipperary.
The Commission was told Ms Manciu earned between 4.06 and 6.17 an hour while working for the company between 2012 and 2016.
In evidence, she said she came to Ireland in 2012 from Romania for work and found employment as a picker at the farm.
She said was surprised to be kept working as late as 10pm – but other staff told her it didn’t matter how long she worked but rather the focus was on the weight of mushrooms picked – with staff paid 30-33 cent for every kilo.
She was repeatedly promoted and eventually rose to the position of harvest supervisor, she said, with her pay rising from 1,600 gross to 2,093.
That meant starting as early as 6am to meet the pickers on site, with the work day not ending until as late as 9.30pm, she said, often with just one day off a week or none at all.
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