"Neymar, Housekeeper Employed 7 Days a Week Without Allowance, Claims 500 Million Won in Unpaid Wages"

Brazilian soccer star Neymar has been accused of illegally employing a housekeeper and subjecting her to harsh working conditions.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the French daily Le Parisien on the 17th (local time), a Brazilian woman named Marcia (a pseudonym) reported Neymar to the labor authorities. She claimed that Neymar illegally employed her from January 2021 to October 2022. Marcia demanded a total of 368,000 euros (approximately 500 million KRW) in unpaid additional wages and other compensation. She stated that she would file a lawsuit if Neymar’s side does not respond.

Marcia, an undocumented immigrant, alleged that she first started working as a kitchen assistant when Neymar prepared a grand birthday party at his home in February 2019. From January 2021, she worked as a housekeeper at Neymar’s residence and even took care of the nail care for his girlfriend, Bruna Biancardi.

She claimed to have worked 9 hours a day on weekdays without any days off or paid holidays, with an additional 6 hours on Friday and Saturday evenings, and 7 hours on Sundays. This far exceeds the standard 40-hour workweek for domestic workers. Marcia said she was paid 15 euros per hour (approximately 20,400 KRW at the time) on weekdays and Fridays and Saturdays, and double that on Sundays, but did not receive any overtime pay. The minimum hourly wage in France in 2021 was 8.11 euros after tax (about 11,000 KRW).

Marcia did not have an official employment contract, so she had no pay slips, but she meticulously recorded her working hours in a notebook. She worked until early October last year, about ten days before giving birth to her fourth child, and claimed that she lost contact with Neymar and his associates after the birth. Marcia’s lawyers said that Neymar sent a registered letter in June while he was in Paris to try to reach an amicable agreement, but they received no response.

Neymar’s media representative refused to answer Le Parisien’s related inquiries, stating, "We have not received any official information regarding this matter, and Neymar has not been notified either," dismissing the claims.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.