EDA251

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00037339 (CA-00048619-001)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the decision of the WRC Adjudication Officer under Section 83 (1), Employment Equality Acts, 1998 to 2015. A Labour Court hearing took place on 3 December 2024.

The following is the Determination of the Court:

DETERMINATION:

Background to the Appeal

This is an appeal by Ms Siobhain Mc Nally (the Complainant) from decision ADJ-00037339 CA-00048619-001 of an Adjudication Officer, under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015 in respect of her complaint against her employer Rotunda Hospital (the Respondent).  The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 3 December 2024, along with five other appeals.

The Adjudication Officer determined that the complaint fails.  The complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 14 February 2022 some thirty-three 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 (10th June 2022) and that the alleged discrimination complained of was stated by the Complainant to have occurred on 14 February 2022. 

Preliminary Issue – Time Limit

The Complainant submitted that the Labour Court in determinations EDA 2148 did not find that her employment ceased on 20 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 re-visit 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 thirty three 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.

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

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Louise O'Donnell
CC	______________________
7th January 2025	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Ceola Cronin, Court Secretary.