The plight of the four Brazilian cleaners exploited by their employer is typical of a growing number of cases coming to the attention of the Equality Authority.
Welcoming the court's decision to award the four €50,000 in damages and unpaid wages, Mr Niall Crowley, the chief executive of the authority, said it had important implications for other migrant workers.
In 2000 the proportion of such cases had been 8 per cent, rising to 16 per cent last year and 27 per cent to date in 2002. Many of the cases involved "fairly extreme cases of exploitation and low pay", he said.
Yesterday's judgment would send out a strong message to workers who were being exploited and to "employers involved in this type of activity". The four cleaners who took yesterday's action were first threatened with dismissal by their employer, convicted brothel-keeper Ms Samantha Hutton, when they took their case to the Equality Authority. One of the four, Ms Neusa da Silva Resende, told The Irish Times they were alerted to the authority's existence by her 16-year-old daughter, Francini, when she visited Ireland on a holiday.
Unlike her mother, Francini spoke English and encouraged the four to contact the authority.
