AN employee of the Nigerian embassy in Dublin has pleaded diplomatic immunity after being told to pay a worker she employed in her home more than €46,000 for failure to pay the minimum wage.

The Labour Court ordered Rosemary Kifordu, with an address in Foxrock, Dublin, to pay Vivian George Udoka, also from Nigeria, €45,918 in arrears of wages and €500 in expenses.

But Kifordu pleaded diplomatic immunity, and to date Ms Udoka (21) has received nothing since she was forced to flee the Foxrock home in May 2011 after working for almost two years without pay.

The Nigerian embassy did not comment on the case, but said that Kifordu has returned to Nigeria.

The Migrant Rights Centre, which campaigns for basic rights for migrant workers, has called on Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore to address what it sees as an abuse of diplomatic immunity.

"This case highlights the lack of protection for domestic workers employed by diplomats in Ireland," said Pablo Rojas Coppari, strategic advocacy officer at the centre.

"It is shameful and unfair that she is being denied access to her rights. This is a persistent problem, but the Department of Foreign Affairs is still dragging its heels."

Mairead Moriarty of KOD Lyons solicitors, who represented Ms Udoka at the Labour Court, agreed with the Centre.

ESCAPE

"This is an abuse of an individual and an abuse of diplomatic immunity" she said.

Ms Moriarty said Ms Udoka was never paid wages bar her keep for almost two years while she looked after Kifordu's children and did housework. She worked from 6.30am to 9 or 10 at night all through the week.

Ms Moriarty said she had to sleep in a room with the children every night, had her documents withheld and was restricted in her movements.

Ms Udoka was only 17 when she came to Ireland from Nigeria in 2009 to work for Kifordu, said Ms Moriarty.

The idea was that she would work part-time and study two evenings a week in college.

While she did enrol in a Dublin business college, the demands of work in the Kifordu home meant she had to quit.

"Eventually, Vivian had to escape from the home because of the conditions she was forced to work under. She is a brave girl," said Ms Moriarty.

Ms Udoka first took her case to a rights commissioner, who recommended an award of €46,000 for failure to pay the minimum €8.65 an hour.

When the award was not paid, Ms Udoka went to the Labour Court where chairman Kevin Duffy confirmed the rights commissioner's award regardless of Kifordu's claim of diplomatic immunity.

Ms Moriarty said she would pursue enforcement of the award to the Circuit Court at least in an effort to highlight the abuse of diplomatic immunity by diplomats.

Irish Independent