Hearing suspended in case of Peruvian workers amid 'ghost company' claims

The dispute involving Peruvian workers hired as displaced employees remains stalled after two of them filed complaints alleging abuses and breaches of an alleged contract signed in Peru with a company that no one appears to know. A hearing scheduled last Tuesday, with Telexarxes and Construart summoned to account for the case, did not go ahead.

The judge suspended the hearing and said she will send letters rogatory to Peruvian authorities to try to contact the entrepreneur who allegedly signed the contracts. The workers’ lawyer says the Peruvian firm, named Desant Servicios Generales, is a “ghost company” and that Construart was the party that negotiated and recruited the workers in Peru. The lawyer adds that the Peruvian citizens themselves say they were unaware of Desant’s existence.

The hearing was interrupted shortly before 9 a.m. when a court official told the workers’ lawyer that the evidence he had requested was already in the case file. The lawyer said he would be unable to conduct the trial or properly question witnesses without that material and asked the judge for a suspension; that request was rejected. Nevertheless, the judge later decided to suspend the session to initiate the rogatory commission.

At the start of the hearing the judge asked Construart’s lawyer whether the company was a temporary employment agency; Construart said it was not. The workers’ lawyer nevertheless maintains that Construart recruited them in Peru. Telexarxes argued it could not be part of the proceedings, while the workers’ lawyer insisted many of the displaced workers had performed work on Telexarxes projects.

The lawyer also criticized the Labor Inspectorate for what he described as inaction, saying he had contacted the service and found “nothing has been done so far.” He argued that Construart had signed the employment contracts and then assigned the workers to Telexarxes, and stressed that Construart does not hold a license to operate as a temporary work agency. He expressed surprise that no sanctions have been imposed despite the Labor Inspectorate being part of the procedure.

Representing two workers dismissed in October 2024, the lawyer alleges multiple breaches of Andorran labor law. He says the dismissals were communicated verbally, in breach of the legal obligation to provide written notice, which he argues left the workers defenseless. He also contends that dismissals justified by alleged poor performance are not legally valid without a detailed written notice, a prior disciplinary procedure and evidence of insufficient performance — none of which, he says, were presented.

The lawyer criticized the ambiguous roles played by Construart and Telexarxes in the management of the workers and reiterated that the workers only learned of the Peruvian company Desant Servicios Generales upon arrival. The judge’s request for judicial assistance in Peru aims to clarify who actually signed the contracts and resolve outstanding questions about the recruitment chain.