Post by Tomspy77 on Jan 15, 2014 22:28:06 GMT -6
Waitress forced to paint face for Halloween awarded €8.5k
Maria Carmen Poveda Valera, who worked in the Swing Room coffee shop in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, for 15 months, was also awarded equal pay with her Irish colleagues after she had discovered that she was being paid over €1.50 an hour less than the Irish waitresses.
Ms Valera told the Equality Tribunal that she was an experienced waitress, having worked in a bar in Spain and a hotel in Ireland. She said she was hired by the owner of the Swing Room in April 2009.
Ms Valera said that at Halloween all staff were instructed to put on face paint for the day. She explained that she did not celebrate Halloween but the owner insisted it was obligatory to wear face paint.
She put on make-up with some glitter but the owner was not happy and said there "would be consequences for her if she did not paint her face", Ms Valera told the tribunal.
In June 2010 the owner said she was going to America and that her brother was going to run the cafe. Along with other staff, Ms Valera's wages were to be cut -- in her case, from €8.80 per hour to €8.65.
It was then that she discovered the other Irish waitresses were on €10.44 and €9.78 per hour, even though she did the same work.
All staff were eventually let go when the cafe closed, but it opened up a week later with new staff.
Ms Valera told the Equality Tribunal that she was an experienced waitress, having worked in a bar in Spain and a hotel in Ireland. She said she was hired by the owner of the Swing Room in April 2009.
Ms Valera said that at Halloween all staff were instructed to put on face paint for the day. She explained that she did not celebrate Halloween but the owner insisted it was obligatory to wear face paint.
She put on make-up with some glitter but the owner was not happy and said there "would be consequences for her if she did not paint her face", Ms Valera told the tribunal.
In June 2010 the owner said she was going to America and that her brother was going to run the cafe. Along with other staff, Ms Valera's wages were to be cut -- in her case, from €8.80 per hour to €8.65.
It was then that she discovered the other Irish waitresses were on €10.44 and €9.78 per hour, even though she did the same work.
All staff were eventually let go when the cafe closed, but it opened up a week later with new staff.
