The engineer was let go by text and instructed to vacate his employer-provided accommodation
15:07, 14 Jul 2026Updated 15:14, 14 Jul 2026
A man who was earning the equivalent of €7 per hour while working for a Cork-based construction firm before being let go by text message and told to vacate employer-provided accommodation has been awarded €14,257 following a Workplace Relations Commission adjudication.
Construction Engineer Dongming Hou, a Chinese national who worked for Buildify Construction and Technology Limited for eight months, brought a complaint against his former employer with the support of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland. The decision was delivered on June 30.
Adjudication Officer Thomas O’Driscoll determined Mr Hou was significantly underpaid during the period of employment, earning just €1,600 per month since starting work there in July 2024, and regularly worked over 50 hours per week
The WRC heard that Mr Hou was to work from 8 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday, but worked an average of more than 56 hours per week. His remuneration fell below the statutory minimum wage. He further contended that he did not receive paid annual leave, nor any payment in lieu.
When he took up the work, Mr Hou said he anticipated his salary being increased to market rate after a three-month probationary period, but his pay scale was never reviewed.
In March 2025, he was dismissed by text message and was instructed to vacate the employer-provided accommodation where he was staying. The WRC heard that it put him in an “exceptionally vulnerable position.” The adjudicator heard evidence that “he had limited English language skills, was unfamiliar with Irish employment rights legislation and procedures and was experiencing uncertainty concerning his immigration and employment permit status.”
Mr Hou was represented by Migrant Rights Centre Ireland organiser Pretty Ndawo. The respondent did not attend the hearing. The company is strike off listed, in the process of being dissolved.
The WRC found the complaint to be well-founded and ordered arrears of remuneration and unpaid annual leave entitlement totalling €14,257.
MRCI’s Worker Rights Organiser, Pretty Ndawo, said Mr Hou’s case “reflects the experiences of many migrant workers who are recruited with promises of employment permits but instead find themselves in exploitative working conditions,” which can leave workers “in a particularly vulnerable position.”