23.09.11: James Robottom secures £89,000 award for migrant domestic worker

Migrant domestic workers, who often travel to the UK with overseas employers, are particularly vulnerable to discrimination, low pay, and exploitation.

Acting on a pro-bono basis James Robottom represented a Nigerian migrant domestic worker at Watford Employment Tribunal. Following a seven day hearing, the tribunal found that the Claimant worker had been exploited by her Nigerian employers over the time she had been in the UK.  She was awarded over £89,000 in compensation for the treatment she received, succeeding in her claims for racial discrimination and harassment, constructive dismissal, and unlawful deduction from wages through a failure to pay the national minimum wage.

The award included an unusually high £25,000 award for injury to feelings, and £5,000 in aggravated damages for discriminatory treatment described by the tribunal as “unremitting”.