EDA2465

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00035260 (CA-00046349-001)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the decision of the Adjudication Officer under Section 83 (1), Employment Equality Acts, 1998 to 2015 on 12th May 2023. A Labour Court hearing took place on 13th November 2024.  

The following is the Determination of the Court: 

DETERMINATION:

This is an appeal by the Complainant) from decision ADJ-00035260 CA-00046349-001 of an Adjudication Officer, under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 in respect of her complaint against her employer, the Respondent.  The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 13th November 2024, along with six other appeals under the Act.

The Adjudication Officer declined jurisdiction to hear the complaint at first instance. He noted that the complaint had been received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 22 September 2021 some twenty-eight months after her employment with the Respondent had terminated on 20th May 2019 as previously found by the Labour Court in EDA2148 (13 December 2021 and 4 July 2022) and LCR22612 (10 June 2022),  and that the alleged discrimination complained of was stated by the Complainant to have occurred on 31 March 2021. 

Preliminary Issue – Time Limit

The Complainant requested that the hearing be held in private and submitted that in her submissions she would be addressing issues relating to her health.  The Respondent confirmed that they had no objection to the hearing taking place in private.

 Section 44 (7) of the Workplace Relations Act 2015 states “Proceedings under this section shall be conducted in public unless the Labour Court, upon application of a party to the appeal, determined that, due to the existence of special circumstances, the proceedings (or part thereof) should be conducted otherwise than in public.  The Court having heard both parties on the application decided on this occasion that the hearing would be held otherwise than in public.

The Complainant submitted that the Labour Court in determinations EDA 2148 did not find that her employment ceased on the 20th May 2019. A reading of determinations EDA 2148 dated 13 December 2021 and 4 July 2022 shows that the Complainant in her referral form stated that her employment was terminated on that date. The determination also records that in the course of her submission the Complainant referenced the fact that her employment had been terminated on that date. The Respondent as recorded in that determination also accepts that Complainant’s employment was ended on that date by way of retirement on grounds of ill health.

The Court in the determination dated 4 July 2022 awarded compensation for a breach of the Act but did not order that the Complainant be reinstated in the position she previously held. Having not appealed that decision it is not now open to the Complainant to try and revisit that issue.

 The Respondent raised a preliminary jurisdictional issue submitting that the claim was not comprehended by the legislation as it is in respect of all alleged act of discrimination some twenty-eight months after her employment ended. The Respondent’s representative made an application to have the appeal dismissed on that basis.

The Complainant submitted that she is disputing the fact that she was retired on grounds of ill health and that on every occasion that the Respondent sends out a pension slip informing her of the details of her pension that is a new act of discrimination.  She submitted that on a yearly basis the Respondent sends out a form which she has not signed, and therefore they are not following their own procedures by paying her pension to her. The Complainant also stated that she had written to the Department of Health requesting that they contact the HSE to see who had made the medical decision that she should retire on grounds of ill health, but they declined to do so.

Determination

The Court, guided by the findings made by other Divisions of the Court that the Complainant’s employment with the Respondent ceased on 20th May 2019, finds that the complaint is not covered by the Act and on that basis the appeal must fail.

The Decision of the Adjudication Officer is upheld

The Court so determines.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
ÁM	______________________
16th December 2024	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Áine Maunsell, Court Secretary.