Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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10. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views regarding multinational companies paying persons less than €3 per hour to do work equivalent of a full time employee, for months at a time, and attempting to justify this as work experience; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39075/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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My question is in general terms and I can be more specific about it now. I am speaking about someone who was taken on by Hertz car hire and paid the princely sum of €2.46 per hour for a period of months on the promise of a permanent position. Is the Minister of State of aware of the situation? If it can happen in a company as supposedly reputable as Hertz, what is to say examples of exploitation are not happening elsewhere? What will the Minister of State do?

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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With limited specified exceptions, such a close family members, statutory apprentices and participants on JobBridge, the National Minimum Wage Act applies to all employees. The Act defines employee as a person of any age who has entered into, or works or has worked under, a contract of employment. A contract of employment means a contract of service or apprenticeship or any other contract whereby an individual agrees with another person to do or perform personally any work or service for that person or a third person whether or not the third person is a party to the contract.

The current national minimum wage for an experienced adult worker is €8.65 per hour. Hourly rates of between 70% and 90% of the adult rate apply to employees under the age of 18 years, in the first two years after the date of first employment over age 18, and those undergoing a course that satisfies the conditions set out in SI 99 of 2000.

It is a criminal offence for an employer to pay an employee less than his or her minimum hourly rate of pay entitlement. If an employee is not satisfied that he or she is being paid his or her statutory minimum entitlement under the 2000 Act, the employee may refer the dispute to the rights commissioner or refer the matter directly to the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, for investigation. NERA has a regionally based inspectorate mandated to ensure compliance with employment-related legislation, including the national minimum wage. Inspections result from cases and sectors identified on the basis of risk analysis, including unannounced inspections, and as a result of complaints received. Some 917 inspections were by way of follow up to complaints in 2013. To end of September 2014, NERA has recovered €637,000 of unpaid wages for employees.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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It is clear from the response of the Minister of State that there has been a flagrant breach of the law and a criminal offence has been carried out. At least two, if not more, people were taken on based on the promise of a full-time job. They were employed for six months and received payslips with the figure €2.46 per hour. When they questioned the payment after a month or two, they were told not to worry, that it was emergency tax and that they would receive the money back. A complaint was submitted to NERA in June and I wrote to the company in the past month but received no reply. I believe NERA was in contact last night and that Hertz said that when it looked at the books with NERA there was a mistake, that it is sorry about it and that moneys will be refunded. I am sorry but this is not a mistake but a criminal offence. Everyone knows the minimum wage and paying people €2.46 is not a mistake but fraud. I hope the Minister of State follows up and I hope we see a criminal prosecution. Unless we do, this type of exploitation will continue.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The Deputy has raised a serious matter and I am glad she took the opportunity to put it on record. I have a personal interest in this area and keep an eye on trends of enforcement and prosecution. I understand NERA has carried out an inspection with regard to the issue raised by the Deputy. It is important that there is a strong message from the Parliament that, where there are suspected breaches of important national minimum wage legislation, they are reported to NERA. NERA is equipped to carry out inspections and a suite of regulations governs the area. It is critically important that these issues are brought to the attention of our national employment inspectorate. It will investigate and does get results. From the point of view of enforcement, inspections and prosecutions, it is clear NERA gets results when complaints are made to it.

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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I accept that and I hope the Minister of State will monitor it. The complaint was made in June and the person started in April and finished up last week, exactly six months. In that sense, the horse had bolted by the time NERA got back. Multinationals like Hertz rely heavily on people for whom English is not the first language. There are many European workers employed there who are not originally from Ireland and, based on that fact, they are more vulnerable to exploitation. That was the situation in this case. We need to do more about this, which is not a mistake. It is a trend and to cut across that we must be heavy-handed in response. I will monitor the case at the next Question Time but I ask the Minister of State to look into this.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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NERA works closely with employers and uses every opportunity to ensure employers are aware of their legal obligations and the legislative area that is of interest to me. It is important that employees, trade unions and public representatives remain vigilant about cases brought to our attention to use the appropriate channels to have these serious matters investigated and decided upon.