The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has awarded €30,000 each to a group of Zimbabwean workers who were recruited to work in Ireland but arrived to find that the promised employment did not exist.

The workers had been recruited under official employment permits to take up roles within the Irish care sector. However, upon their arrival in the country, they discovered there was no work available for them with the employer who had sponsored their visas.

Following a series of hearings, the WRC ruled in favor of the workers, finding that they had been subjected to exploitation and a severe failure in recruitment practices. The commission determined that the employer had failed to provide the contracted employment and had left the workers in a highly vulnerable position after they relocated across the world.

In its decision, the WRC ordered the care provider to pay €30,000 in compensation to each of the affected individuals to address the financial and emotional distress caused by the recruitment failure. The ruling highlights ongoing concerns regarding the oversight of migrant worker recruitment and the enforcement of employment standards within the care sector.