Turns out that dev, a senior dev with more than 10 years of experience, was getting paid, in london, 37k gbp a year.
Went to the MD and explained the unfairness of all this and demanded a pay raise on his behalf, since i was his manager.
Was bluntly told, with a laugh nonetheless, “he is on a work visa, whats he going to do about it anyway?”.
Thats when i understood the power of visa tied work. Certain types of employers love it as a means to control workers and undercut wages. A good reason for some to want to leave the eu - couldnt control foreign stuff and couldnt depress wages since everyone was on equal terms.
Fast forward a few months. I went on as a head of dev at another company, hired the guy, almost doubled his pay and made him a team lead because that was his fair level of experience. No more snaps.