[ALBSA-Info] Migrant Rights in Greece I

[Agron Alibali]

Athens News: Supreme court upholds undocumented migrants' right to legal wages and benefits (K. Tzilivakis, 11-1-02)


Migrants applaud supreme court ruling
http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.prnt_article?e=C&f=12944&t=11&m=A12&
aa=1

Greece's highest court safeguards undocumented migrant workers' right
tolegal wages and benefits, even when they do not hold work permits

BY KATHY TZILIVAKIS 

Undocumented migrant workers now have something to smile about 

GREECE'S supreme court has ruled in favour of an undocumented migrant
claiming wages and holiday bonuses owed to him by his employer of eight
years. The landmark decision will be published in the coming weeks. 

In a significant ruling that sets a binding precedent for other law courts,
the supreme court upheld a lower court's decision overruling the employer's
argument that she should not be required to compensate her former employee
because he did not hold a valid work permit. The employer insisted that
since there is no legally binding work contract, the migrant is not
entitled to legally recognised wages and benefits. 

The court found that although the lack of a work permit rendered the
migrant's employment contract illegal, he does have the right to receive
benefits and Christmas, Easter and holiday bonuses worth two months' salary
per year. 

Representatives of migrant groups as well as trade and labour unions
applauded the supreme court's "bold" ruling, and hope that it will serve to
demolish the long-standing practise by most employers to prefer
undocumented migrant workers to Greeks and foreigners with work permits. 

"I believe (the ruling) is very positive for Greek and migrant workers,"
George Alevizakis, immigration special secretary at the Athens Labour
Centre (EKA), told the Athens News. "This is good news for Greek workers
who feel that employers are discriminating against them because they can
pay foreigners without work permits lower wages... I hope this practice
will soon come to an end." 

"Many Filipinos without work permits receive Christmas and summer bonuses,
but this depends on the generosity of their employers," says Joe Valencia,
president of Kasapi-Hellas (Unity of Filipino Migrant Workers in Greece).
"I am very happy that this is something that reached the Supreme Court so
that now we can chase employers who are unscrupulous," he said. 

The supreme court's ruling (1788/2001) is based on a civil code law
pertaining to misappropriated gains (law 904) rather than on labour law.
"This (ruling) is not something new," says labour lawyer and human rights
activist Yianna Kurtovic. Numerous such cases have been tried in lower
courts around the country in the past, she said, and the ruling is more
often than not in favour of the undocumented migrants. 

"Foreigners without work permits have turned to the courts in the past to
claim wages and benefits, and the courts have ruled in their favour, not
based on labour laws (since there is no legal work contract to speak of),
but on this law of misappropriated gains," Kurtovic says. "This basically
means that the employer is obligated to pay the undocumented worker what he
would have paid a Greek or a migrant with a work permit. The employer
gained from keeping the benefits she would normally have paid to any other
employee doing the same job with a valid work permit," she says. 

One technicality, however, which can be an obstacle to prosecution and
compensation is that the undocumented migrant may be deported before the
case is tried in court - as many as several years after the lawsuit is
filed. But even those who are out of the country have the right to file a
lawsuit against their past employers, Kurtovic notes. 

Occasionally employers have sought to settle claims out of court. But most
employers are unaware that the law is not on their side. A carpenter in the
western Athens industrial district of Aspropyrgos employs two Albanian men
who do not hold work permits. He pays them about 170,000 drs (498 euros)
(minimum wage) each month, but did not give them the mandatory holiday
bonuses. 

"They haven't asked for the bonuses and I am not about to give it to them
just like that," the carpenter told the Athens News on condition of
anonymity. "I am not aware of the law." 


ATHENS NEWS , 11/01/2002 , page: A12 
Article code: C12944A121




---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Send FREE video emails in Yahoo! Mail.
-------------- next part --------------
HTML attachment scrubbed and removed