Indian nurse wins rare legal victory against UK care firm

LONDON - An Indian nurse who was sacked by a British care company won a significant payout on Monday in a case that lawyers said could spur other migrant workers to pursue claims against unscrupulous bosses.

Kirankumar Rathod is among more than 100,000 overseas workers who have arrived in Britain to take up care jobs since 2022 when the government opened up a new visa route to help tackle massive staffing gaps.  

An investigation by Context this year revealed reports of abuses in the sector had soared since the scheme's introduction but labour experts said most migrant workers were too scared to complain for fear they would lose their visa and be deported.

Rathod said he was left in dire financial straits after London-based Clinica Private Healthcare Ltd hired him, but failed to provide him with any work and then fired him.

In an unusual ruling on Monday, employment judge Natasha Joffe ordered Clinica to pay Rathod nearly 17,000 pounds ($22,260) in unpaid wages to date, and to continue paying his salary until his claim for unfair dismissal is decided.

"This is very significant," Rathod's solicitor Sarmila Bose of the Work Rights Centre told Context.

"It shows that redress is possible for the many people who have been wronged by the way the visa scheme has been operated."

Bose said the award was “a lifesaver” for Rathod, his wife and six-year-old daughter who had been left in a “desperate financial situation” by Clinica.

After the ruling, Rathod said he felt “massive relief."

“This has been an incredibly stressful time for me, both emotionally and financially, as while Clinica denied me work and income, I was unable to provide for my family,” he told Context in a statement.

Legal experts said it was extremely rare for judges to grant "interim relief" and the ruling was a strong indication Rathod would win his case at the Central London Employment Tribunal when it is eventually heard in full.

Rathod said he had paid an agent in India 22,000 pounds to secure a care job in Britain - although there is no suggestion Clinica knew this.

After arriving in May 2023, he received a contract to work as a healthcare assistant with an annual salary of 23,500 pounds.

When no work materialised, Rathod and other employees visited Clinica's west London offices several times.

Following one visit, he received an email accusing him of "gross insubordination".

After months without work, Rathod told a company representative he would take legal action. He was sacked the following day on Nov. 8, 2023.

"I told him the situation was killing me, I could not sleep at night," Rathod said in a witness statement.

In a previous written summary of the case, the judge said Clinica appeared to have "strung along" a significant number of others and its behaviour suggested "something awry" in the way it ran its business.

The tribunal heard that Clinica's licence to employ overseas workers had since been revoked. Its representative had argued the company could not be asked to pay Rathod since it no longer had a licence to sponsor overseas workers.

The Work Rights Centre, which is helping three other migrant workers with claims related to different companies, said more than 60 people had approached it with similar stories this year alone.

But Bose said this was the tip of the iceberg.

"Some companies employed dozens of people (from overseas) when they didn't really have jobs for them," she said. "The number of people affected overall is in the thousands."

(Reporting by Emma Batha; Editing by Clar Ni Chonghaile.)