THE OFFICIAL opening of the new Philippines embassy in Dublin tomorrow will be marked by a protest following its decision to boycott a rights hearing at the Labour Relations Commission yesterday.
The hearing was scheduled by the commission following a complaint by a domestic worker at the embassy, who alleges the embassy has violated her employment rights and did not pay her the minimum wage.
The Migrant Rights Centre of Ireland, which is providing legal assistance to the worker, said the embassy had shown “disregard for Irish law” by not attending the hearing. It said the centre’s domestic workers’ action group would stage a demonstration at the embassy tomorrow.
Last night the Philippines embassy said it had discussed the issue with the Department of Foreign Affairs.
“This is a situation that has arisen between two Filipino citizens and an agreement between them executed in the Philippines. Neither of the two persons are residents of Ireland but are in Ireland on the basis of a special type of visa under arrangement with the Department of Foreign Affairs.”
The embassy said it continued to exert efforts for the two Filipino citizens to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution. It would not comment on why it had failed to attend the hearing or if it was invoking diplomatic immunity in the case.
The employment rights case is one of seven complaints made to the commission by domestic workers over the past year involving diplomatic employers and embassies. The first case involved former South African ambassador Priscilla Jana, who invoked diplomatic immunity when a Ukrainian woman on her private staff complained to the commission.
Valentyna Khristonsen alleged her employment rights were violated when she worked in the private residence of Ms Jana between February 2006 and August 2008.
However, the Rights Commissioner Service said it had no jurisdiction to hear the worker’s complaint based on the ambassador’s claim of diplomatic immunity.
This decision was appealed to the Labour Court and The Irish Times has learned that the South African embassy and Ms Khristonsen settled the case before a scheduled hearing last month. A spokeswoman for the South African embassy said that due to a confidentiality understanding, the embassy was unable to comment.
The rights centre, which acted on behalf of Ms Khristonsen, said it had withdrawn the appeal as the “matter has been satisfactorily concluded”.