A Bosnian woman working as a hairdressing assistant in Malta under harsh conditions has had her case resolved and will be getting the money owed to her.

Jane* had spoken to Lovin Malta about the conditions she worked in, including 11-hour shifts featuring a three-minute break in which she must eat in the bathroom. She said she was also not allowed to drink any water to minimise how often she went to the bathroom.

Her contract stipulated that she should have been earning €5.50 an hour, but she said she was only paid €80 every two weeks. At 40 hours a week, she should have been earning €440 every fortnight.

The case had showed the extreme conditions migrant workers were facing at work, oftentimes with little chance for the foreign worker to find legal help to show how they had been abused.

She faced deportation after eventually being fired from her job; however, the case was brought to DIER‘s attention, and she will now receive the money she is owed.

“Sadly many people go through a very similar to this,” one person intimate with the case told Lovin Malta. “She could have been asked to leave the island, that’s how serious this was. It took guts for her to speak out, and I can only help when they are brave like this, it hopefully won’t be long before she actually receives the money owed.”

When Lovin Malta had contacted her former boss for her comments, she said Jane was lying, and refused to comment further.