ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION/RECOMMENDATION

Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00010153

Parties:

	Complainant	Respondent
Anonymised Parties	A Tenant	A Landlady

Representatives

Complaint(s):

Act	Complaint/Dispute Reference No.	Date of Receipt
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000	CA-00013064-001	10/08/2017

Date of Adjudication Hearing: 18/12/2017

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Marian Duffy

Procedure:

In accordance with Section 25 of the Equal Status Act, 2000, and following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint.

Background:

The complainant alleged that he was discriminated against by the respondent on the gender, religion and race grounds under the Equal Status Act 2000. He was notified by letter dated 2nd of November 2017 that a hearing of the above complaint was taking place on Monday the 18th of December 2017 at 10:30am. He made a further complaint under the Act (CA-00014858) and this was listed for hearing on the same date by letter dated 28th of November 2017. The complainant said he did not received the letter dated 2nd of November 2017 and only received the letter dated the 28th of November. He requested that I hear only the complaint he had received notification off dated 28th of November.

The respondent attended the hearing and confirmed that she had received notification of the hearing by letter dated the 2nd of November 2017 and a further letter of the 28th of November listing a further complaint. She requested that I hear all of the complaints.

Summary of Complainant’s Case:

The complainant attended the hearing and requested that I hear only one complaint. He said that the other complaints were listed for hearing in August and were adjourned at the request of the respondent and this inconvenienced him. He said that he was not ready to provide evidence in relation to the above complaint and only intended offering evidence in relation to one case. He left the hearing without providing any evidence.

Summary of Respondent’s Case:

The Respondent attended the hearing and was available to provide evidence in relation to all the complaints.

Findings and Conclusions:

On the basis that the complainant left the hearing and did not offer any evidence, I was unable to proceed to hearing evidence in relation this complaint.

Decision:

Section 25 of the Equal Status Acts, 2000 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under section 27 of that Act.

The complainant left the Adjudication hearing without offering any evidence. Therefore, he failed to pursue his complaints. I find, on that basis, the complainant has failed to establish a prima facie case of discriminatory treatment.

Dated: 2nd February 2018

Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Marian Duffy