Three Vietnamese former employees of Leisure Clothing are claiming they are owed €50,000 between them for working 14-hour days, six days a week, for the duration of their employment with the Chinese factory based in Bulebel.

The claims were made before Magistrate Carol Peralta, presiding over a Department of Industrial and Employment Relations sitting.

Department officials said they had launched an investigation when the workers reported the matter to them, claiming they were not receiving their wages.

The case is unrelated to the human trafficking claims currently being investigated by the police.

Superintendent Dennis Theuma, who is leading these investigations, said that although the matter is not related, the investigation is also looking into the fact that workers had not been receiving their salaries.

The case heard this afternoon was instituted by former employees Thi Thu Tran, Thi Cam Van and Van Ngu Tran against Leisure Clothing officials Han Bin, Jia Liu and Zang Hang Cuan. They are claiming that they are owed some €50,000 in wages and overtime.

A DIER representative, Antoine Grech, explained to the court that the company did not actually pay their employees but placed their wages in a safe deposit box at the office and the workers would then need to fill in a specific form if their required any of the money they earned.

The whole idea was so that the workers had a large sum to take home when their contract expired and they are repatriated.

Mr Grech said the workers did not even have a copy of the contract that they had signed in Vietnam before their arrival in Malta.

He said the three Vietnamese were employed at Leisure Clothing between November 22, 2013 and July 25, 2014, when they were arrested by Immigration officers when they allegedly tried to leave the country illegally.

Between November and the end of March they worked for for an entire week between 7am and 9.30pm and then had one day off the following week. They had a break of one hour and 15 minutes.

Between April and July they worked the same hour but had a day of rest once a week.

The three foreigners told the DIER that they only received €600 for the eight months they spent working for the company.

Mr Grech said he had met CEO Han Bin, who had told him that the company gave pay slips to its employees but kept their money in a safe deposit box. He claimed that the employees would sign a form if they needed cash but had failed to provide any such documents to the department.

Lawyer Pio Valletta, who is representing Leisure Clothing, said the case filed by the Vietnamese began months before the ongoing investigation and the company was “disgusted” by the “media campaign”.

“A lot of newspapers have gone overboard and it’s not fair,” he complained.

He also claimed that he knew who had leaked the story to the media and said the truth will come out in time.

The case was put off.

Lawyers Karl Briffa, Michael and Katrine Camilleri appeared for the Vietnamese.