Last week, Riyad Mahrez, the famous Algerian footballer who currently plays for Manchester City, by whom he is paid in the region of £200,000 a week, was ordered by an Employment Tribunal to pay his ex-nanny £3,612 in unpaid wages, as well as £150 in damages.
Catalina Miraflores worked for the footballer for £12-an-hour and even relocated from London to Manchester following the player’s move from Leicester City to Manchester City.
Miraflores left the position last November after Mahrez failed to pay her.
During the tribunal, it emerged that the nanny was working longer than the terms of the employment, including the scheduled shift hours, that had been agreed.
Rather than working from 8 am until 6 pm, which was the agreed working day, Miraflores states that she was “at their beck and call 24 hours a day.”
Judge John Sherratt found that the footballer and his wife, who have two children, owed her thousands in unpaid wages. The nanny was living in the player’s multi-million-pound property in the centre of Manchester, looking after their two children.
She stated that there was no issue with her work, that her performance was never in question, yet she didn’t get paid. It’s after she left the job in November that she took Mahrez to an Employment Tribunal.During the trial, the conditions of the working arrangement came to light. While she was living in the player’s home, she was sleeping in the same room as the children.
She claimed that the long working hours meant that she was unable to return home to see her family. She had been working for the player since March of last year, when she was given the job via an agency.
In London everything was fine, the problems began following the move to Manchester.
The issue was that she was not paid for overtime work; she was still receiving her regular salary, which was paid every two weeks.
Before the case was taken to trial, there was a small online bust-up between the nanny and the player’s wife, who wrote: “I am shocked at your greed and manipulation.” It is unlikely to have too much of a negative impact on the finances of the footballer, the sum that he has to pay in back wages — and also the small damages fee — will be earned back in a matter of hours.
It is a reminder, however, that regardless of the relative wealth of the parties, the rules apply to all employers.
