MEMBERS OF the Domestic Workers Action Group protested at the South African embassy in Dublin yesterday over the decision of the embassy to invoke diplomatic immunity in an employment rights complaint taken against the ambassador, Priscilla Jana, by a domestic worker.
The DWAG is part of the Migrants Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI).
The complaint was brought by Valentyna Khristonsen, a Ukrainian, who was employed between February 2006 and August 2008 in the private residence of Ms Jana. Ms Khristonsen, who is being represented by the MRCI, claimed that her employment rights were violated and lodged formal complaints against Ms Jana with the Labour Relations Commission, alleging breaches of the Unfair Dismissals Act, the Payment of Wages Act, and the Organisation of Working Time Act.
According to the MRCI, formal complaints were due to be heard before a rights commissioner yesterday. However, Ms Jana and the embassy claimed that the rights commissioner had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint by virtue of the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The commissioner took submissions and said he would notify the MRCI of his decision in two weeks, according to its legal adviser, Pat O’Donoghue.
“We commonly come across complaints by domestic workers involving diplomatic employers,” says Siobhán O’Donoghue, director of the MRCI. “Diplomatic immunity should not be a blank cheque for denying a domestic worker her basic rights. Ms Khristonsen had a signed contract. What is the point of having a contract if she cannot even pursue the rights outlined in it?”
“More needs to be done to ensure that foreign diplomats . . . understand their obligations as employers here in Ireland,” she said.