Complainant

Respondent

Anonymised Parties

A member

A Golf Club

Representatives

Act

Complaint Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 77 of the Employment Equality Act, 1998

CA-00013209-001

18/08/2017

The Complainant is a member and former President of the Golf Club, the Respondent. She claims that she was discriminated against by the Golf Club on the grounds of gender and disability because of a rule introduced on 12th November 2016. She also claims she was victimised and harassed by the Respondent.

I have decided to anonymise the parties to this complaint based on the sensitivities of the issues related to this complaint.

It was acknowledged that the complaint was notified to the WRC under incorrect legislation. The Complainant referred it under the Employment Equality Act, 1998 and not the Equal Status Act, 2000. The Complainant has correctly notified the Respondent of the nature of her complaint by sending ES1 form and the Respondent replied by sending form ES2. The Complainant has also addressed the matter in her correspondence with the Respondent. Both Parties agreed to amend the WRC Complaint Form accordingly. I am satisfied that the error was of a clerical nature. The nature of the complaint remains the same and the Respondent was on notice of the claim and is in no way prejudiced by the correction of the WRC complaint form.

The Complainant submits that she was discriminated against because of a rule introduced on 12th November 2016 at the Golf Club which applied to Ladies only. She submits that there was a period between 12th November 2016 and 7th September 2017 when female golfers in the Golf Club were required to produce a medical certificate to justify the use of a golf buggy but there was no corresponding requirement for men to provide such a medical certificate. The Complainant submits that she was victimised because during that period she was the only member of the Golf Club who was disqualified from competition under the rule introduced on 12th November 2016. The Complainant claims that other female golfers had used a buggy in the relevant period, without having been asked to produce a medical certificate and were not disqualified. The Complainant submits that there are two key dates central to her complaint:

i)                    12th November 2016: on this date the Ladies Committee issued an “Important Notice” that “All persons using a buggy must have a Medical Certificate for (current year)…”

ii)                   7th September 2017: on this date the Men’s Committee issued a “Notice” which stated: “with immediate effect from 7/9/2017, All members and visitors using a buggy in any counting competition must produce a valid medical certificate. Failure to do so (will?) result in disqualification”. [sic]

The Complainant submits the Lady Captain announced at the Ladies AGM on 8th November 2016 that the ILGU certificate was required if a buggy was being used by Lady members in club competitions. Following the AGM the Complainant contacted the ILGU directly and they confirmed that the Transportation Policy set out in their handbook applies only to “Championship / Tournaments run by the ILGU at National and District Level”. The Complainant submits that on 11th November 2016 she advised the Lady Captain that the ILGU Certificate was not applicable for the Ladies Club competitions and that according to the ILGU Handbook legal advice was recommended if the Ladies Club wished to put a transportation policy in place. On 12th November 2016 an altered “Competition Rules and Conditions Ladies Club” was posted by the Ladies Committee requiring a medical certificate for the current year by those using buggies in all competition in the Golf Club.   Subsequently, in November 2016, the Complainant notified the Lady Captain that she was medically certified for invalidity pension since October 2015. The Lady Captain insisted that she wanted the Complainant to provide a medical certificate. However, on the grounds of what the Complainant considered the discriminatory nature of the policy she was not prepared to provide the certificate demanded. She was advised by the Lady Captain that she would be disqualified from all competitions if she did not produce a current medical cert. The Complainant submits that she has been disqualified since then in 18-hole competitions, on that basis.

The Complainant submits that the rule was not applied even-handedly. She claims that she was the only member requested to provide a medical cert and more particularly she was the only member disqualified under the new rule. She believes that this was because of her ongoing objection to and refusal to comply with the discriminatory nature of the rule.

The Complainant submits that between November 2016 and September 2017 there was no transportation (i.e. use of buggies) policy for male members of the Golf Club; they could use buggies in competition and not be disqualified. The Complainant submits that she notified the Lady Captain and her officers in November 2016 that she and all the lady members were being discriminated against under the Competition Rules and Conditions Ladies Club document issued by the Ladies Committee on 12th November 2016. At the last Management Meeting of the Parent Club which the Complainant attended as President of the Club in November 2016 the Complainant notified the Parent Club and suggested that legal advice be sought on a Transportation Policy for the overall Club i.e. for Ladies and Men. The Complainant submits that by letter to the Parent Club of 12th June 2017 she notified them that she was being disqualified by the Ladies Committee and asked for the matter to be resolved. The Complainant asserts that she is the only Lady Member to be disqualified under this policy. The Complainant claims that under the terms of the Constitution of the Golf Club the Parent Club has the power to remedy but failed to do so.

The Complainant believes that the rule of 7th September 2017 in respect of the Men’s Committee was created at the instigation of the Ladies Committee as a direct result of her submission to the WRC of 12th July 2017.

The Complainant submits that the ruling bodies of golf, the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) and the Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU) recommend that the Parent Club should develop the Transportation Policy for the overall club and hence avoiding the risk of discriminating against either.

The Complainant submits that the rule is not in use in other clubs in the area that she is aware of. She claims that there is either a common policy for both Men and Lady members in place or there is no policy. The Complainant claims that she did not enter team events and Open Day competitions in the Golf Club as the Competition Secretary clarified that her individual scores would not be accepted if she uses a buggy. Visitors from other clubs played in competitions in the Golf Club Open Days while using a buggy and qualified for prizes without providing medical certificates while she was prevented from doing so. The Complainant claims that she spoke to visitors who confirmed that they were not requested to provide medical certificate but simply booked buggies and played. The Complainant argues that the fact that Men’s Committee introduced the rule on 7th September 2017 is confirmation that only Ladies were required to do so up to that date and therefore the rule was discriminatory between these dates.

The Complainant argues that she was disqualified from competitions because she needed and used a buggy due to her medical condition but refused to comply with the discriminatory requirement which applied to women only between 12th November 2016 and 7th September 2017. The Complainant submits that she has Hepatitis C, which, amongst other, causes her energy levels to go up and down. The condition is treated by medication and management of tiredness. She has been in receipt of invalidity pension since September 2015.

The Complainant submits that since she challenged this unfair policy she has felt intimidated, bullied and ostracised by the officers of the Parent Club and the Ladies Club who pursued a policy ensuring that she was disqualified from competitions and did not enter team events with her friends because her score would not count. The Complainant claims that her treatment by the Ladies Club and the failure of the Parent Club to deal with the matter has caused her great upset. She has been prevented from normal enjoyment of her membership of the Club. The Complainant submits that she has been subjected to an ongoing spiteful campaign of psychological bullying and snubbing with hurtful comments.

The Complainant is seeking confirmation that:

(i)                  she was discriminated against because there was no requirement for men to provide medical certificates.

(ii)                She was victimised because she was the only member disqualified from the competitions under the new rule.

The Complainant is also seeking a declaration that she was correct about the discriminatory rule as it may help to explain to the members that she was not being difficult but rather she was acting within her rights and that it was the Club that was in the wrong.

The Respondent submits that the Ladies Golf in the Golf Club is run by the Ladies Committee with the Lady Captain in charge. The governing body is the ILGU. Men’s Golf in the Golf Club is run by the Men’s Committee with the Captain in charge. The governing body is the GUI. The Management Committee manage everything else in the Golf Club. The ILGU and the GUI agreed recently a proposal to form one Governing Body for golf in Ireland. It is hoped that this will be completed before the end of 2018.

Ms M, the 2017 Lady Captain gave evidence. She noted that the Complainant was the Club President in 2016 when the Ladies Club had the rule that an ILGU cert was required when a member was playing in qualifying competition. Ms M, the 2017 Lady Captain in her opening address at the Ladies AGM in November 2016 said that she would have a proposal for the Ladies Committee to change the rules of the ILGU cert requirement. This change was in the interest of inclusivity, positivity and simplicity. Going forward ladies who needed to use a buggy at home would now only need a medical certificate rather than an ILGU cert. Ms M stated in her evidence that the ILGU cert requirement had definitely been in force since 2014 and probably before that and was never challenged. Ms M submitted that in 2017 the Complainant became an ordinary member and was billed for her subscription. She refused to pay same on the basis that she paid on the previous year. The Club President and Captain are entitled to complimentary membership but the Complainant chose to pay her subscription in 2016. The financial accounts were not noted to the effect that she was paying her subscriptions in advance. Subscription rates are only decided at the AGM. This caused a lack of clarity on the Complainant’s membership status until 29th September when her invoice was cancelled. The financial year end of the club is 30th September. This membership conundrum also caused a logjam in responding to the Complainant’s correspondence. It was a difficult situation for the Management to handle and finally, Management decided that because of the Complainant’s long association with the Club it would be written off. Mr. W was the Club Honorary Secretary in 2017. He is a cousin of the Complainant’s husband with whom he plays golf every week. Ms M submits that if the Club did make a mistake in all of this, it was that Mr. W did not step aside because of his conflict of interest. He was asked at management meetings to distance himself from correspondence and discussions with the Complainant. He refused. He wrote to the Complainant on 20th July saying that Management would deal with her query at the next meeting in August. This appeared to the Complainant that Management were ignoring her. However, Management had actually decided that the Ladies Committee should address the issue but this was never communicated to the Complainant. Following the Complainant’s complaint to the WRC the enforcement of the buggy rule was brought to the attention of the Men’s Committee and a commitment was made to enforce the rule. The Men’s Committee have a similar list of local rules of golf, including the medical cert requirement to use a buggy, posted at the members’ computer terminal, dated November 2016.

Ms M stated that golf is a game of honour. It is assumed that members play by the rules. The Complainant continued throughout the year to blatantly use a buggy without a medical certificate. Ms M noted that the Complainant has made a great contribution to the Golf Club over many year. Ms M added that she cannot fathom the Complaint’s motivation to go to these lengths when she could have used the AGM to challenge. The buggy issue was not mentioned at either the main or the Ladies AGM in 2017.

The matter referred for investigation turns upon whether or not the Complainant was discriminated against contrary to Section 3(1)(a) and 3(2)(a) and (g) of the Equal Status Act and whether or not the Complainant was victimised by the Respondent contrary to Section 3(2)(j) and harassed by the Respondent contrary to Section 11 of the Act.

The Respondent confirmed post-hearing that the Golf Club holds a certificate of registration under the Registration of Clubs Acts. Section 8 of the Equal Status Act, 2000 as amended provides as follows: “(1) In this section—

“certificate of registration”, in relation to a club, means the certificate of registration of the club under the Registration of Clubs Acts, 1904 to 1999;

“club” means a club that has applied for or holds a certificate of registration.

(2) For the purposes of this section—

(a) a club shall be considered to be a discriminating club if—

(i) it has any rule, policy or practice which discriminates against a member or an applicant for membership, or

(ii) a person involved in its management discriminates against a member or an applicant for membership in relation to the affairs of the club,

(b) without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a), any of the following acts, if done by a club or a person involved in its management on any of the discriminatory grounds, is evidence that the club is a discriminating club:

(i) refusing to admit a person to membership;

(ii) providing different terms and conditions of membership for members or applicants for membership;

(iii) terminating the membership of a person or subjecting a member to any other sanction; or

(iv) refusing or failing, in contravention of section 4(1), to do all that is reasonable to accommodate the needs of a member, or an applicant for membership, with a disability.

(3) Any person, including the Authority (in this section referred to as “the applicant”), may, on application to the District Court (in this section referred to as “the Court”), request that the Court make a determination as to whether a club is a discriminating club.”

Having considered the written and verbal submissions of both parties and all of the evidence adduced in the instant claim, I find that Section 8 of the Act provides that recourse in respect of a club that holds a certificate of registration should be made to the District Court.

I therefore lack jurisdiction to investigate this matter.

The above complaint falls under the jurisdiction of the District Court. I do not have jurisdiction to make a determination on this claim.

Disability- gender-discrimination- discriminating club-registered club- Registration of Clubs Acts