Record whistleblower award to masseuse pressured into sex work
An all-time record award for whistleblower penalisation was set in November when adjudicator Michael MacNamee ordered a massage parlour to pay €91,000 to a masseuse who objected to providing “sexual services” to her male boss.
Though larger sums have been awarded in the High Court, it was the first time the WRC maxed out its jurisdiction of five years’ wages under the Protected Disclosures Act – with the total compensation package rising to €102,550 when further employment law breaches are taken into account.
The “exceptionally vulnerable worker”, who was represented by barrister Céile Varley BL and solicitor Wendy Lyon of Abbey Law, was in her first job in Ireland after coming here to study English, the adjudicator noted.
At the time of a hearing in July, the massage parlour was still trading. It cannot be named by order of the tribunal.
CEO told to “work for free or leave” wins top award
Mario Kistner secured awards for unfair dismissal and unlawful pay deductions against Suirsafe Technologies Ltd after its bosses told him they could no longer fund his €218,000-a-year salary or provide capital to the Limerick-based firm – citing a “political/legal situation in China”.
His solicitors, McInnes Dunne Murphy LLP, said Mr Kistner was effectively given an ultimatum to “work for free or leave without pay” and had been constructively dismissed, an argument accepted by the WRC.
Earlier this month, the firm’s former head of products, Barbara Remic, secured €88,000 after she went without her €180,000-a-year salary for a year – the WRC finding that she too had been constructively dismissed.
The company now faces orders totalling over €220,000 for employment rights breaches.
It is understood Mr Kistner has got nothing from the respondent, and will be pursuing an enforcement order in Limerick District Court in the new year.
3 “We don’t do business with HAP”
In unopposed evidence, Magdelena Kotecka told the WRC that Joseph Woodlock was “very intimidating”. Her representative, Owen Duggan of housing charity Threshold adding that the landlord had written to her “repeatedly” telling her the housing assistance payment was not an option “due to his status with Revenue”.
IT worker forced to retire at 65 wins job back
In an unprecedented move, the tribunal ordered telecoms provider eir to reinstate an IT helpdesk worker after ruling he had been subjected to age discrimination when the company insisted he retire on his 65th birthday in July.
A reinstatement order made by adjudicator Breiffni O’Neill earlier this month means the worker, Thomas Doolin, is entitled to go back to work – and to receive the wages he would have been paid since July if he had been left in the job.
The WRC has never before used its power to order the reinstatement or reengagement of a worker in an equality claim and up to now – and has typically awarded sums ranging from six months’ to 18 months’ salary in cases of enforced retirement.
Eir has said it is appealing the decision to the Labour Court, a development Mr Doolin called “disgraceful”.
“They’re not a fan of the secrets”
In November the WRC ordered a car dealership to pay €28,000 to a teenage saleswoman after finding she was sacked due to pregnancy – and not for failing to hit a sales target of 20 cars a month, as the company claimed.
Abbie Walsh said she was taken aside by her manager in May this year and told that the “lads upstairs” at Soraghan Auto Retail Ltd, trading as the Sandyford Motor Centre, were “not a fan of the secrets” and “want you out today”.
“The only secret’s that I’m pregnant,” she told the WRC.
Adjudicator Eileen Campbell upheld the discrimination claim – finding it was “simply not credible and makes absolutely no sense” that a teenager just months into her first sales job was expected to hit the same sales targets as her senior colleagues.
Ex Debenhams staff secure millions over mass redundancies
Nearly 800 former employees of Debenhams Retail Ireland Ltd, which shut up shop just weeks into the Covid-19 pandemic, won a key legal battle in May when a test case ended in an order for compensation.
Shop steward Jane Crowe – a key leader of a workers’ blockade of the shuttered stores which lasted nearly 400 days until it was broken up by gardaí – secured eight weeks’ pay for a failure by the liquidators of the firm to start the redundancy consultation process in good time and provide her trade union, Mandate, with required information.
The ruling is thought to be worth millions to the workers – but is currently under appeal at the Labour Court.
A smaller number of Siptu members – mostly former catering staff – also secured four weeks’ pay on similar grounds.
RNLI’s “ignorance or contempt” for Ireland
Seán Dillon said the no-show was “symbolic of the contempt, of the ignorance or contempt, towards Ireland as a region in the RNLI”, which he called a “governance basket case”.
Adjudicator Eileen Campbell found it was “unfair and disrespectful” that Mr Dillon was replaced by a manager from its UK head office before he even had an opportunity to reinterview for the job.
Maimed garda sergeant wins €65k over duty restrictions
A garda sergeant who said he was left to “sit and rot” when a new superintendent confined him to office work was awarded €65,000 for disability discrimination in November.
Sgt David Haughney told the WRC that three previous commanding officers let him keep up his work as a public order trainer and tactical advisor despite losing 70% of his vision in one eye after a rock attack.
A retired inspector said Sgt Haughney was “nearly in tears” when Superintendent Adrian Gamble told Sgt Haughney he was being restricted in his duties – to which Supt Gamble responded: “I didn’t see any tears”.
Adjudicator Jim Dolan found the restrictions had been the withdrawal of reasonable accommodation previously afforded to Sgt Haughney, and upheld the complaint.
Car seized outside Labour Court in fish-and-chips row
In May the WRC was told of the collapse of talks aimed at ending the multiple strands of a dispute between restaurateur Eugene Hanley and new investors who took over his firm when it went into examinership and then dismissed him and his three sons.
A barrister acting for one of Mr Hanley’s sons in the fourth of the family said feeling between the parties was so “utterly bitter” that the new management seized a car from the businessman from outside the Labour Court in May this year while he was inside appealing an earlier decision by the WRC.
“It’s our car”, a company witness said.
Keg lorry drivers secure €114,000 over mass sacking
It happened after Diageo security mounted a covert surveillance operation targeting a pub in Dublin’s north inner city in connection with alleged unauthorised keg deliveries.
Adjudicator Andrew Heavey accepted the explanation by the keg lorry drivers and their helpers that they had been shuttling kegs from pub to pub as a favour to publicans.
Dancing solicitor wins €30k for maternity discrimination
A solicitor pursuing a maternity discrimination claim came under questioning at a hearing in May about going to a wedding in connection with a letter she wrote to her ex-employer expressing concerns about Covid-19 safety in the office.
“Did you dance that night?” she was asked.
“There was dancing, yes,” she replied.
The adjudicator intervened and repeated the question: “Did you dance?”
“Yes,” the solicitor said.
The WRC ultimately ruled Ms Howe had been discriminatorily dismissed – but rejected the complainant’s contention that the firm was in breach of the European directive on workplace safety for pregnant and breastfeeding workers.
Atheist wins case on access to foxholes
Department of Defence witnesses gave evidence that sending a humanist chaplain with peacekeepers to south Lebanon could undo years of liaison work with local religious fundamentalists vital to “force protection”.
Hezbollah supporters, in particular, were “a bit more traditional” – and unlikely to accept a non-religious minister, according to one army captain who testified.
However, adjudicator Kevin Baneham said this was not enough to justify drawing military chaplains from among the ranks of Catholic and Church of Ireland clergy and made a finding of discrimination – but awarded no compensation.
Drugs charity manager who flagged concerns on governance secures €83,000 for penalisation
Another major whistleblower penalisation award was made in June to the former service director at a drugs treatment centre, Sankalpa CLG.
Edel Ambrose had been suspended in “retaliation” for raising concerns about a particular employee, and for later expressing concerns about the charity’s governance to its main funder, the HSE, and a local TD.
This included a former chairperson “interrogating” her over a bill for specialist medication she needed because she was getting cancer treatment and had contracted headlice while dealing with one of the charity’s clients.
The WRC ordered Sankalpa to pay Ms Ambrose €23,000 for unfair dismissal and a further €60,000 in compensation for whistleblower penalisation – a sum equivalent to one-eighth of the taxpayer funding the charity got the last year she worked there.
“I’m not a waitress”
The company, ERS Genomics Ltd, is contesting her complaints – its barrister calling it “telling” that the alleged restaurant incident and other allegations only emerged when her lawyers made new legal submissions days before the hearing.
The ongoing case is expected to be called on again for hearing early in 2024.
“The glass was shaking in the window”
Emily Brady said in her complaint that the restaurant’s manager told her the volume was “set at that level to go with the vibe” and refused to change it – a claim denied by the manager.
Both the manager and a waitress have also denied knowing Ms Brady had a disability at all – leaving their evidence at odds with accounts given by the complainant and one of her friends in sworn evidence.
A decision on the Equal Status Act complaint is due in the new year.
