Tuesday - September 09, 2008

Cleaner demands compensation claiming lack of English is disability.

OK, So far she hasn’t won her case.  I very much doubt anyone here at BMEWS would condone cheating ppl on honest labor or taking advantage of same.
But this story really smacks of lawyer(s).
Lack of English? ah huh. 
Does this sound like an immigrant with poor English skills?

“I was fed up with being cheated out of my wages, being lied to, being treated like a child or a half-whit, and being part of a scheme obviously circumventing the minimum wage legislature.” Or does it sound like lawyerspeak?

Oh but wait, she didn’t know how long it took to clean a room and so she was cheated. huh?

A Polish cleaner claimed her lack of English should be classed as a disability as she tried to sue her employers for alleged discrimination.

By Ben Farmer
Last Updated: 9:51AM BST 09 Sep 2008

Izabela Smolarek, 30, was seeking £5,000 in damages from cleaning firm ISS Facility Services Ltd on the grounds of disability discrimination.

She claimed they exploited her inability to understand her job contract by paying her less than the minimum wage for cleaning rooms at a Travelodge in Luton, Beds.

However her case has now been thrown out before reaching an employment tribunal after a judge ruled Miss Smolarek had no physical or mental impairment.

Miss Smolarek, from Hatfield, Herts, said she had agreed to be paid £1.24 for each hotel room she cleaned, but said it was impossible to clean the three rooms an hour necessary to earn the £5.52 national minimum wage.

She claimed her Polish supervisor at the Travelodge, Krizistof Kowalik, had lied to her and the other female Polish employees about how long it took to clean a room.

In her claim statement, she said: “Not speaking and not understanding the language is a disability. It’s like being deaf and mute and illiterate.

“My employer exploited this disability to pay less than the minimum wage.”

Miss Smolarek arrived in England from Poland on October 25 2007 and started work at the Travelodge on November 24. She lasted just over a month at the job and has also claimed she was unfairly dismissed.

Her statement added: “I was fed up with being cheated out of my wages, being lied to, being treated like a child or a half-whit, and being part of a scheme obviously circumventing the minimum wage legislature.

“Brutal or subtle, such discrimination is always dangerous to the principal of equality, a principal so dear to the British soul.”

Her representative, Thomas Klarecki, told the hearing: “The law says you do not have to discuss the reasons for a disability, just the effects of the disability.

“It is not necessary to consider how an impairment is caused. Why Miss Smolarek cannot speak English is irrelevant.”

However, Judge Valentine Adamson dismissed the claim at the hearing in Bedford.

He said: “In the absence of any identifiable impairment, the only point being that the claimant was born in Poland and not a country where English is the first language, I find the claimant’s language difficulties are not capable of being classed as an impairment within the meaning of the Disability Discrimination Act.

“That complaint will be struck off.”

Miss Smolarek continues to claim she was unfairly dismissed by the London-based cleaning firm.

Another pre-hearing review has been scheduled for January 12.

Miss Smolarek is also claiming £981 for unpaid wages, holiday pay and notice pay.

A spokesman for ISS said the company denied the allegations but would not comment further.

http://tinyurl.com/5buxwj

Posted by Drew458     on 09/09/2008 at 05:09 AM   
Filed Under: • Miscellaneous • News-Briefs • work and the workplace •  
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