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A care home owner under-paid a foreign carer for years before forcing her to quit after falsely promising to help her remain in the UK.

Della McManus, owner of Hilbre Care Group, created contracts for non- European Union workers with rates of pay she had "no intention" of honouring.

One carer, named in court documents as Philippines national E. Corpuz, took her old boss to an Employment Tribunal which ruled she had been constructively dismissed and had unlawful deductions made from her wages.

Two further claims, that she had been harassed in relation to her nationality, were dismissed by the tribunal.

Mrs McManus told the ECHO she intends to appeal the decision and "will take it all the way."

The tribunal heard Mrs McManus recruited Ms Corpuz, who had nursing qualifications from the Philippines and a qualification in social care from the University of Winchester, in 2014 - promising to sponsor her to stay in the UK.

(Image: Clara Molden/PA Wire)

A contract drawn up stated Ms Corpuz was to be employed as a trainee deputy care home manager, working at Hilbre Court on Barton Road, Hoylake, on a rate of £11.43 per hour.

However, Ms Corpuz realised she was only ever asked to perform senior carer duties and that she was being paid £6.50 per hour. She was "too scared" to raise the issue with Mrs McManus.

A judgement from Employment Judge Kendrick Horne stated: "Mrs McManus entered into a contract to pay £11.43 per hour which, privately, she had no intention of honouring.

"Her motivation was to recruit workers who were well qualified, required by law to work full-time, and over whom she would have a very high degree of control, because of the severe consequences for their immigration status if they left or lost their jobs....

"The claimant was in an extremely vulnerable position. If she left her job with the respondents, or made trouble and was dismissed, she would have only a few weeks to find another job with a Tier 2 employer, and if she was unsuccessful, she would have to leave the United Kingdom."

(Image: Google)

The Tribunal heard Mrs McManus held a 'Tier 2' licence from the Home Office enabling her to appoint non-EU workers to certain skilled roles and obtain sponsorship certificates for their right to stay in the UK.

The employer must stick to certain conditions, including rates of pay.

However in July, 2015, the United Kingdom Visa Inspectorate (UKVI) suspended Hilbre Care's licence after noticing some foreign staff were being paid less than their contracts stipulated.

But the tribunal described "a curious thing" happening shortly afterwards, when Ms Corpuz was paid the £11.43 rate on a one off.

Mrs McManus claimed this was an "accountancy error".

However Judge Horne said: "If we were to believe Mrs McManus, this error, which was only made on only one occasion, just happened to fall at a time when Mrs McManus was submitting information to UKVI with a view to having her sponsorship licence restored.

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"To our minds this was a coincidence too far. Much more likely in our view was that Mrs McManus was not telling us the truth."

However, things got worse for Ms Corpuz when in 2016, Mrs McManus decided that it was "too much trouble" to apply for any further sponsorship certificates.

Judge Horne said: "This left the claimant in a difficult position. It meant that, when her visa expired on 13 July 2017, she would not be able to remain employed within the Hilbre Care business.

"She would need to find a new Tier 2 sponsor/employer, or acquire the right to remain in the UK in some other way. Otherwise she would have to return to the Philippines."

The Tribunal heard that during 2017 Ms Corpuz tried to get her employer to sponsor her right to stay in the UK, and eventually paid £2,000 for a marriage visa.

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In July, 2017, Ms Corpuz resigned.

Judge Horne said: "Not renewing her sponsorship was breaking Mrs McManus’ promise (which would itself undermine the claimant’s trust) and was also indicating that they were not interested in helping her to remain employed.

"To our minds, it demonstrated an intention to abandon and altogether refuse to perform the contract."

Mrs McManus argued during the tribunal that Ms Corpuz had not been a satisfactory carer and would not have been made a manager based on her performance.

However the tribunal heard there had been no record of any problems and Ms Corpuz's performance was praised in appraisals.

A date has been set to determine the level of compensation for Ms Corpuz, which Mrs McManus told the ECHO could be in excess of £60,000.

When the ECHO contacted Mrs McManus, she said: "I have got nothing to hide. We will be challenging this decision as taking it as far as possible until we get a proper judgement.

"People know me, I'm not a nasty person. If anything I'm too soft."