The Labour Court rejected Armin Grefkes and Bernadette Moloney-Grefkes T/A Drumcreehy House’s appeal and ordered them to pay Marika Lubig €4,346.67 for minimum-wage underpayment. The determination, signed on 19 July 2011, replaced the Rights Commissioner’s €4,084.05 award.
Lubig worked 40 hours a week for €100, or €2.50 an hour, when the national minimum rate was €8.65. The Court found the arrangement was not qualifying study or training under the National Minimum Wage Act, and the employers had not applied for an inability-to-pay exemption. After accounting for board and lodging, it found an underpayment of €4,346.67.