Bombay House: Skerries restaurant goes into liquidation before €143k compo in sex case is paid out

Sharanjeet Kaur, a chef and mother of two from India, was awarded the sum following a hearing at the Workplace Relations Commission last January.

The case heard how she was sexually harassed, threatened with blackmail and deportation and worked “50 hours a week for as little as €200 a week with just five minutes’ break” every day.

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Bhappa Singh, who owns Bombay Bhappa Ltd which had been trading as the Bombay House restaurant in Skerries, north Dublin, walked out of the WRC hearing as he was “unhappy” that gardaí attended.

A garda detective who gave evidence to the tribunal said Ms Kaur had been left “very traumatised and damaged” after her employment with the firm.

The case attracted significant negative publicity for the restaurant and it closed permanently in April last year, shortly after the case was reported in the media.

Singh did not respond to requests for comment from the Sunday World when the publication called his business and home after the case.

The publication revealed that the firm, which hasn’t filed any accounts since 2023, has recently gone into liquidation.

A meeting of creditors took place on February 25, when liquidators were appointed.

The firm had not paid Ms Kaur any of the compensation owed to her before going into liquidation.

A spokesperson for the Migrants Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), who assisted Ms Kaur in the case, said paperwork has been filed through the liquidator for Mr Kaur to get her award paid by the social insurance fund.

The spokesperson said there had been cases in the past where companies have deliberately closed down to avoid paying out WRC compensation but in this case it may have also been down to negative publicity.

The spokesperson said over the past year, the MRCI has had a 100pc increase in the number of people who have faced severe labour exploitation coming to them for assistance.

“Workers on employment permits need better protections. It is very difficult for people to change jobs on their permit. Employers take advantage of this, which makes it very hard for workers to stand up for their rights,” they said.

In her case last year, Ms Kaur said her work permit said she would be paid €30,000 per year or €576.92 per week. She shared accommodation with seven of Singh’s employees. In reality she worked approximately 50 hours a week over six days and was paid approximately €200 per week, earning just €4.46 per hour.

She also said she had only “one daily five minute lunch break and was never paid annual leave”.

Ms Kaur said Singh would pay €500 into her bank account each week but then drive her to an ATM and get her to take out €290 to return to him in cash.

The WRC heard she was “subjected to a catalogue of distressing treatment” over the course of her employment from September 2021 until she was fired in November 2022.

She said one perpetrator “touched my cheek, arms and upper body” and said that he “wanted to spend time with me”, that “he wanted to kiss me”, and that he “wanted to have sex with me”. She said she “dreaded having to go into the cold room as she feared sexual assault”.

Adjudicator Elizabeth Spelman upheld her complaints on various grounds.