Illegal worker claims she was sacked after refusing to collect boss from airport on day off
Claudia Borjas alleges that she was owed five weeks' wages and that her former employer has also "just stopped paying" other illegal workers in the past
A mother-of-two from Brazil, who illegally worked as a cleaner while living in Ireland, has claimed that she was sacked after refusing to collect her former employer from the airport on her day off.
During an adjudication hearing of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) earlier today, Claudia Borjas alleged that Team Weaver Limited in Elphin, Co Roscommon had failed to pay her for more than a month prior to her dismissal last January.
She claimed that the director of the company had also “just stopped paying” other illegal workers, and told adjudication officer Emile Daly that they hadn’t pursued the matter through the WRC because of their immigration status.
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Ms Borjas said she had entered Ireland on a tourist visa in 2023 and began working illegally for the contract cleaning company at a racecourse that August. She said she spoke to the director of the company, Dean Weaver, about the possibility of applying for a work permit.
In response to questioning from Ms Daly, Ms Borjas said she had no contract with the company, no basic core terms, and was given no annual leave. She worked every day but had every second Sunday off and did not work Christmas Day.
She told the WRC that she had provided cleaning services at a hospital, a cinema, and a newspaper for the company, as well as cleaning windows at retirement homes at weekends. She was paid €12 per hour.
In December 2023, Mr Weaver allegedly asked Ms Borjas to collect him from an airport. She refused because she was not working, and she was afraid of being stopped by gardaí as she was not insured to drive.
They had an exchange and Ms Borjas claimed that Mr Weaver “became very aggressive” when she asked him for wages that she was owed.
Despite this, she continued to work through until January 2, by which time she said she was owed four or five weeks’ pay. She said her employment was terminated when she received a text message from Mr Weaver stating that Mr Borjas and her husband were “illegal” and “just ripping [him] off”.
Mr Borjas told the WRC that she had left Brazil “out of necessity” as she had two small children and “had to find something better” for them.
“I understand the seriousness of the issue of the visa for work in Ireland, but I went with the hope of obtaining a work permit or visa, because I didn’t want to continue illegally in the country,” she said.
She claimed that she had obtained a Personal Public Service (PPS) number in Ireland despite being in the country illegally. “As far as I know, it’s very easy to get a PPS [number],” she told the WRC, explaining that she had done this with the help of a solicitor “who usually does that”.
No representative of Team Weaver Limited attended the adjudication hearing.
Ms Daly said there were two superior court cases that she would have to examine to decide whether she had jurisdiction to deal with Ms Borjas’s complaint, given that she had been an illegal worker.
She indicated that she had “concerns” about jurisdiction but would consider the issue fully in light of the Hussein High Court ruling and the Quinn Supreme Court decision, and a decision would issue on Ms Borjas’s complaint in due course.
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