A contract is legally required between au pairs and the family they are working for, according to a legal officer with the Migrants Rights Centre.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Jane O’Connell said she was approached by a Brazilian au pair who was charged more than €500 by her employers when she decided to leave with two days notice.
The au pair was awarded total compensation of almost €5,500 by the Labour Court yesterday.
The court heard that the au pair, Dayana Jonson Goncalves Generoso, was paid €150 a week plus board and lodgings by a family from Milltown in Dublin.
She did not receive any written contract or statement of her terms and conditions of employment.
Ms Generoso worked for the family from February 2016 until July of that year, when she decided to leave.
At that point the McCormack family told her she must give them a payment in excess of €500 in lieu of four weeks notice.
Speaking this morning, Ms O'Connell said the position is that "au pairs are workers and their position is clear, the law means they are entitled to employment rights."
She said employers who are paying au pairs €150 a week, are breaking the law.
"She was working 54 hours a week and getting paid €150 a week, much less than the minimum wage and no basic entitlements," Ms O’Connell said.
The Labour Court said the €4,947.05 which the family were ordered to pay to Ms Generoso was to bring her wages up to the national minimum wage, along with a further €510 to reimburse her for the "notice" money which she had been forced to pay to the family.
