£215,000 secured for maltreated domestic help

Cloisters’ barrister Andrew Buchan (instructed by North Kensington Law Centre) has secured £215,000 in damages for a Singhalese domestic help. The London Employment Tribunal heard how the Claimant suffered humiliating and degrading treatment and was paid grossly below the minimum wage for the nine years she was employed by Mr Yasuf and Ms Nadia Samalan.

The claimant began working for the couple in 1999 and worked 18 hours a day for the family in Kuwait, Lebanon and London.  She was only permitted to return home to visit her family Sri Lanka on three occasions.  After escaping from her employers she sought assistance through the charitable organisation Kalayaan and from North Kensington Law Centre, and was referred through the National Referral Mechanism as a victim of trafficking. 

Having previously suffered abuse by her former husband the claimant was vulnerable to developing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and depression that crystallised through the treatment she received from Mr and Ms Samalan.

Cloisters barrister, Akua Reindorf, commented on the case:  “There are a disturbing  number of cases of maltreatment and exploitation of domestic assistants and this decision by the tribunal sends a loud and clear message: perpetrators of such treatment will not stay below the radar and they will pay for the consequences of their actions.”