Dublin hotel workers let go without notice to receive €90,000 in money owed

FORMER BALLYMUN hotel workers are set to receive some €90,000 in money they are owed, it emerged yesterday.

The Ballymun Plaza Hotel closed last April and its staff was let go without notice when the hotel was repossessed from management by its landlord.

“Staff members were forced to leave the premises with only enough time to collect their personal belongings. Their employer, the Ballymun Plaza Hotel refused to pay them any of the wages owed,” Siptu organiser Miriam Hamilton said.

Thirty-five former workers took a case to the Rights Commissioner seeking money owed, including wages and holiday pay. They are expecting to receive payments of between €700 and €13,000. The Rights Commissioner has sent details to the liquidator of the company, Siptu said. The company that operated the hotel went into liquidation last October.

Siptu said it has been a difficult time for the staff, some of whom have been unable to find alternative work.

Thomas Metcalfe, a former porter at the hotel yesterday, said it seemed that it was worth the wait. “I’m pleased that this whole ordeal is over at last. Hotel workers were treated terribly and we had to move mountains to get what was owed to us. We found ourselves out of work with no notice, and we didn’t have a clue what was going on.”