Koya hospital cleaners sue company over four months of unpaid wages

ERBIL — More than 170 cleaning workers employed by the Last Leaf company have filed a lawsuit with the Koya District Court after working for four months without pay in hospitals and health centers across Koya and Taq Taq districts, several workers told 964media.

Hersh Mohammed, one of the workers, said, “We have to work every morning at 7:30, but we haven’t received our salaries for four months, and because of that, we can’t take other jobs.” He added, “We don’t even know the exact amount of our salaries. We’re told it’s 400,000 dinars (about $285), but we only receive 350,000 dinars (about $250).”

Another worker, Dashti Abdulqadir, described the situation as “unacceptable.” He told 964media, “Neither the Health Directorate nor the company has given us any answers. When we ask about our salaries, they say, ‘We don’t know.’ They tell us to keep working even if we aren’t being paid. We are working under pressure, doing our duties while being denied our rights.”

Abdulqadir said a previous court ruling had already required the company to pay workers 400,000 dinars per month, but “even after that decision, we still only receive 350,000 dinars.” He said the workers have asked the court to follow up and enforce the ruling.

He added that hospital legal departments told them the issue lies with the company, not the Health Directorate. “The company claims it has problems with the Health Directorate, but that has nothing to do with the workers. Employees must receive their wages on time,” he said.

Koya Health Directorate spokesperson Hawkar Ali told 964media, “We have already referred the company to court and filed a formal legal complaint over the unpaid wages.”

964media contacted the Last Leaf company, but its representative declined to comment, saying only, “I’ll get back to you later.” No further response was received.

A similar situation occurred in May when sanitation workers in Soran went on strike for two days over unpaid wages, leaving streets filled with trash and markets overwhelmed with waste. The workers, employed by Ball and Hizll company, said they had not been paid for March and April. The company cited banking congestion for the delay, but local officials accused it of breaching its contract by failing to pay workers on time.