Even illegal workers are due bonuses
Workers who are illegally employed are still entitled to receive holiday benefits as well as Christmas and Easter bonuses, according to a Supreme Court ruling following a suit by an immigrant. In a decision made public yesterday, the court dismissed an appeal by the man’s employer against an appeals court decision granting the worker eight years of benefits and bonuses – which amount to approximately an extra two month’s salaries every year. The worker sought retroactive payment of the benefits after he voluntarily left his job, arguing that, although he lacked a work permit, his employer had gained from keeping the benefits she would normally have paid to any other employee doing the same job with a valid work permit. The court found that, although the absence of a work permit rendered the employee’s contract illegal, he had a right to receive the benefits. Meanwhile, following an 11-hour hunt by air and land, on Sunday coast guard and police officers on the uninhabited islet of Yioura – near Alonissos in the central Aegean – arrested four Turkish suspected human traffickers who had been hiding on the islet since their 25-meter fishing boat foundered offshore on Thursday after landing 193 illegal immigrants.The migrants are to be deported.
