Ms Karina Korotkevica:

I am the drop-in centre co-ordinator with MRCI. I will provide a few comments on access to the WRC for undocumented workers. In 2014, the Employment Permits (Amendment) Act was introduced, certain sections of which allow undocumented workers to bring a claim to the civil courts instead of the WRC. It created problems for migrants, such as navigating the courts process and the cost of legal representation. In a 2019 case, the Labour Court delivered a judgment involving TA Hotels Limited that held that undocumented workers could not seek redress against employers before employment tribunals such as the WRC and the Labour Court, and that the Employment Permits (Amendment) Act 2014 referred undocumented workers to civil proceedings to recover moneys owed from the employer. The court found that these civil proceedings did not include tribunals, only the ordinary courts.

MRCI believes that all workers work and that undocumented migrant workers perform work just like any other worker, and as such should be protected by the same rights and regulations as other workers. Consequently, they should have access to the workplace relations bodies, which are the appropriate bodies to deal with labour disputes, rather than to civil courts. Referring undocumented workers to civil courts instead of to the workplace relations bodies creates a number of access-to-justice concerns. Workers whose legal status has lapsed for short or long periods are effectively barred from accessing justice in employment cases, and workers who cannot afford to go to court or cannot find pro bono or other supports cannot seek redress against their employers before the employment tribunals. Furthermore, no free legal aid is available for employment disputes.