Polish is suing because she cannot speak english!!!

of course there are always those who are too naive to believe in stereotypes

An employer has a duty of care towards his employees and prospective employees. I'm not too sure about the disability aspect <in this case> and if they haven't sought the guidance of a UK lawyer then they are foolish !

But nonetheless I find it quite an interesting debate. Because if the prospective employer knew that the people they were interviewing/recruiting, could speak no English, then they would be responsible for finding out what language they did use so that they could read their contract correctly. The onus I would have thought would be on the employer at the time. However, the employee also has a duty to their employer and if they could not read their contract they should have refused to sign it.

Doesn't it say somewhere that their manager is Polish ? Was he already employed by the employer ? There lies another interesting debate in this scenario I think !

I suggest it is not a clear cut case and it will be quite interesting to see how a court or tribunal views it.

A tribunal would in my opinion award any loss of earnings along with compensation. Her contract is void as it is founded on illegality i.e; does not correspond with minimum wage laws. This is regardless of wether she read it or not, even if it was in polish and she read it, that does not matter as the contract is still void. She is entitled to a minimum wage and as a result she will recieve in earnings held indescrepancy.

although I am against mass unskilled immigration, I dont believe in ripping people off. Employers are in a position where they an easily abuse people and it is not right. Look at how the polish government and polish employers treat their employees. Britain is not as bakward as poland and therefore this woman should be given any lost earnings due to an illegal void contract

Not necessarily though. She wasn't actually offered a lower figure was she ? <have to admit I haven't read all the info> but from what I understood it was like a 'piecework' type of arrangement and if her manager is Polish then she cannot argue she didn't know what was requested of her ?

If the employer can show that another employee can do the work in the allotted time then their case would fall on that aspect ?

The onus in a case like this <if this is the main issue here> would be for the employee to prove that the work cannot be carried out in the allotted time <as specified by the employer> . Proof has to be concrete for a tribunal.

I very much doubt that any employer in the UK would have written a contract, stipulating wages which are below the minimum wage.

:)

if she cleans x numbers of room and that takes her 1 hour or more and she gets less than the minimum wage the contract stipulated would be founded on illegality. contrats must state the amount that an employee is paid.

I don't disagree with you on some points. What I stated was that no employer in the UK would ever think of drawing up a contract that did not state the minimum wage on it. Anything else would be unlawful.


Think that paragraph from:

direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/Employees/EmploymentContractsAndConditions/DG_10027910

sums it all up really. However, it is still an interesting and debatable case. As I said before will be interesting to see the judgement !

:)

do you want to hold bets on the case through paypal ?

Er no thank you. Why on earth would I want to do that ?

Pass Lol !

.....should always understand something before signing it......
once it's signed, tough. Doesn't matter what disabilities are involved.
I have no pity for someone demonstrating such stupidity.

ust because she cannot speak English, it does not make it a DISABILITY!!!


me too, she deserves everything she dose not get, if you see what i mean :)

Lol, I meant to say "disability" not disability!

wasnt her direct manager polish? if she didnt understand she could have ask the manager

Being in the EU, she has a right to obtain a copy in Polish. To sign to something u can't read is just lunacy

Oh I wish that Poland would take note of this...luckily I can read Polish but I wouldn't trust myself regarding the contracts that I deal with on a weekly basis.

Just a question Seanus, how many contacts have you had in Poland that have been transcribed into English, because in eight years of being here I have never had one.

None, it seems like u have to request one. It just tells me that they have things to hide.