Cameroonian student says employer withheld wages and threatened court action

A Cameroonian student in Lithuania says a construction company withheld his final wages and threatened legal action after he quit. LRT reported that a labour disputes commission found the company had failed to meet tax obligations related to employment relationships.

Emmanuel came to Lithuania a year ago to study for a master’s degree in social sciences. After several months of attending classes without working, he found a job with a construction company. He said the hiring process seemed unusual, but he had never worked in Europe and did not know how the system worked.

According to Emmanuel, the company told him to register as self-employed, and there was no standard recruitment process or employment contract. Worried that he might not be covered by health insurance if he had an accident, he asked for a contract.

The document he was eventually given was in Lithuanian. When he asked how he could sign something he could not understand, he said he was told he did not need to understand it and only had to sign. He refused and later translated it. He said it gave workers no rights and set fines for various violations, including 80 euros for arriving late and 1,500 euros for disclosing information in the contract.

Emmanuel also said the company deducted money from his wages for preparing invoices, which he needed to submit to get paid under the self-employment arrangement. He could not prepare the invoices himself because he did not speak Lithuanian.

Unhappy with the conditions, he decided to leave. Although the contract said he had to work for two more weeks, he said his employers demanded that he stay for a month. A month later, he still had not received his final wages.

After Emmanuel said he would seek legal advice, he received documents claiming he had failed to come to work. The company demanded compensation for alleged losses and said he would receive a court summons. Emmanuel said he was frightened and asked the employers to keep the unpaid money and let him continue his studies without pursuing legal proceedings.

He eventually contacted a trade union, which helped him through the subsequent process. LRT’s summary of the report says foreigners are more vulnerable in the labour market because they may not know the language or the laws.

Emmanuel said he came to Lithuania to pursue a master’s degree and build skills to address social problems in his community. He said a social and political crisis in Cameroon had caused trauma, deaths, property losses and a lack of stability, and that he could not continue his studies there.