Exploitation in the nail salon? process adjourned
The owner of the nail salon in the city of Salzburg and his wife are responsible for illegal employment and exploitation. They are said to have Czech passports for five people ready for the check and have each collected 100 euros a month. In addition, she would only have paid 420 euros per month for the 50 hours worked per week.
Fall field on inspection in June
The previously innocent defendants of Vietnamese origin have had Czech citizenship for several years. You have been living in Salzburg since 2017. The Salzburg public prosecutor last reported violations of the Aliens Police Act for the period between April 10 and June 20, 2022. Specifically, they are accused of exploiting strangers and aiding and abetting unauthorized residence – if convicted, they face up to five years in prison. The cause was discovered during an inspection by the financial police on June 20th.
Defendants deny guilt
The five employees had previously heavily burdened their employer. “Your statements are wrong, we can prove that,” countered the defense attorney at the trial. “The accused certainly did not provide employees with a passport so that they could unlawfully enrich themselves. My clients had no idea that it wasn’t their passport.” The five employees at the nail and beauty salon also worked far less than 50 hours a week.
Why should five employees wrongly charge him when some of them were even allowed to live with him free of charge, the judge asks the accused businessman. He suspected “self-protection” as a motive for these people. Their passports were therefore kept in the shop during working hours so that they could be shown immediately in the event of a check by the immigration police, he justified himself. This did not disrupt customer operations.
Judge inquired
When the judge asked, he explained that checks were only carried out twice a year and that he hadn’t noticed that the passports looked new and unused. “Only one person could speak Czech,” the judge noted. He didn’t notice that, the defendant said they talked mainly in Vietnamese.
Is it a coincidence that all five of these Vietnamese origins had Czech passports, the prosecutor wanted to know. The business owner explained that he had no idea where these five passports came from. His wife, herself an employee of the studio, added that she had made a list of clients including the employees’ actual working hours.
Witness questioning possible at the next appointment
The trial was adjourned indefinitely for further evidence. Because the defendants had denied all allegations, the judge, in compliance with the observance of writing out the whereabouts of all witnesses, in order to question them at the trial can.
Starvation wages common in nail salons?
According to media reports, almost the entire market for nail salons in Germany is in the hands of Vietnamese “entrepreneurs” of this type. Working hours and pay are similar everywhere to those in the Salzburg case, according to the police.