The Labour Court upheld a €4,800 minimum-wage award to Mariaam Bhatti Sithabile after Bukola Eigbogba’s appeal failed. The Court signed its determination on 2 August 2012, affirming the Rights Commissioner’s award of arrears under the National Minimum Wage Act 2000.
Eigbogba argued that Bhatti had been a guest in her home, not an employee. Bhatti said she came to Ireland for au pair work, caring for children and doing household duties for €400 a month.
The Court preferred Bhatti’s evidence. It found that a handwritten note of household duties and Eigbogba’s advertisement for a live-in au pair supported Bhatti’s account, and that the two had an employment relationship from about 9 July to 27 or 28 November 2010. The Court found she had not been paid the national minimum wage and affirmed the €4,800 award. A separate €4,800 award in a conjoined working-time appeal is not part of this case.