Step forward in the recognition of employment rights for undocumented workers

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The supreme court of Greece ruled at the end of 2001 that undocumented workers are entitled to their wages and to holiday bonuses. The legal basis of this ruling (1788/2001) is not in the labour legislation, since without a work permit and without employment contract, an undocumented worker cannot refer to any provision of the labour laws. The ruling is based on a law in the civil code which sanctions misappropriate gains.  

It is a positive point that it is possible for undocumented migrants to file a complaint at a court, but it should not be forgotten that it remains problematic. A court case can easily take several years, and undocumented workers run the risk of being expelled in the mean time. Moreover, a court case obliges them to step out of anonymity, which is for many of them not obvious.

Greek courts also recognized in the past the right of immigrants working illegally to wage compensation in case of accident. Several cases have been reported. In one of the cases the judge argued that not entitling an undocumented worker to compensation for an industrial accident would go against humanitarian values and would lead to intolerable discrimination, violating basic human rights and make the state susceptible to criticism.

(Source: MNS Feb 2002)