- The worker came to Iceland from Greenland in the summer to save money for her studies. Between the 18th of May to the 21st of July 2017, she worked at Hnjótur Guesthouse in the Westfjords. Her boss paid for her plane ticket to Iceland.
- She claimed that only part of her salary was paid. She claims to have worked from mornings to evenings, 64 days without a free day, sometimes from 7 am till 11 pm, and got only ISK 270.305 in total for that period.
- The case was reported by the Westfjords union (Verkalýðsfélags Vestfirðinga) as a possible case of human trafficking, but the police have stopped investigating.
- The guesthouse’s owner stated that the worker had no work obligations, that she was a friend visiting. The worker claimed that the owner also told her to say that she was his girlfriend.
- The guesthouse’s owner wrote a payslip for the worker, which was prepared the day before she left. The newspaper (Stundin/Heimildin) had the pay slip in hand. It says that she worked 512 hours during the 64 days she was at Hnjótur Guesthouse, or 8 hours a day. The article states that all work after 173.33 hours per month should be paid as overtime, but no overtime is shown on the payslip – at least 165 hours should be paid as such. The declared salary on the note is ISK 866,412, but various unexplained and possibly illegal deductions appear there. The guesthouse’s owner deducted 36.94 percent tax from the worker’s salary, but the worker did not have a social security number – which is a prerequisite for returning tax to the authorities. The article states that it is uncertain whether and how that money went to the authorities.
- The worker won a wage case in the Dristrict Court of the Westfjords. The owner of the guest house did not appear in court and has announced that he will never pay her.
Sources published from October 2017 to April 2019:
- “I don’t trust Icelanders anymore” – https://heimildin.is/grein/5617
- “She won a wage-case in the court but is unsure she will get paid” – heimildin.is/grein/8849
Kristinn Þór Egilsson (kt. 140458-3259) is the owner of the Hnjótur Guesthouse: https://www.skatturinn.is/fyrirtaekjaskra/leit/kennitala/1404583259