EDA1821

This is Ms Mulrooney’s appeal from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (DEC-E2017-058, dated 28 July 2017) under the Employment Equality Act 1998 (‘the 1998 Act’). The Notice of Appeal was received by the Court on 11 September 2017. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin on 16 March 2018. The parties are referred to in the within determination as they were at first instance. Hence, Ms Mulrooney is referred to as the Complainant and her former employer, Elavon Financial Services Limited is referred to as the Respondent.

The Complainant alleges that she was discriminated against on both gender and family status grounds on her return from maternity leave in November 2012. She further claims that she was victimised within the meaning of the 1998 Act. Her complaint was received by the then Equality Tribunal on 31 July 2015. She had resigned her employment on 3 April 2015. Accordingly, the Adjudication Officer held that the relevant period within which the Complainant had firstly to demonstrate that a prohibited discriminatory act within the meaning of the 1998 Act had occurred was the period from 1 February 2015 to 3 April 2015. He concluded that there was nothing in the complaint as presented to him from which it could be inferred on a prima facie basis that the Complainant suffered any form of discrimination or victimisation contrary to the 1998 Act within the six-month time period permitted under the Act. On that basis, he found that the complaint had not been referred within time and declined jurisdiction.

The Parties Submissions

Mr Dowling BL, for the Respondent, submits that the essence of the complaint referred by the Complainant and as set out in her Workplace Relations Complaint Form received by the then Equality Tribunal on 31 July 2015 related to what she perceived to be “an unfair allocation of duties and responsibilities … impossible goals … reviews of [her] work performance which were objectively unfair” following her return from maternity leave in November 2012. The Complainant went on long-term sick leave in April 2013 and remained absent from work until her resignation on 3 April 2015.

Counsel also opened a letter from the Complainant’s solicitors to the Respondent dated 9 January 2015 which particularises in some detail the difficulties the Complainant alleges she experienced in the workplace arising from an increased workload and the accounts and Partners assigned to her during that period. That letter asserted that the Complainant had endured psychological suffering as a consequence of her workplace circumstances and sought an undertaking from the Respondent to pay her “adequate compensation for her injuries”. Mr Dowling identified a number of subsequent letters from the Complainant’s solicitors to the Respondent which he says are in similar vein and all of which fail to make any reference to the Complainant having suffered alleged discrimination and/or victimisation within the meaning of the 1998 Act. He submits, therefore, that there can be no basis for the Complainant’s subsequent assertion that she suffered continuing discrimination on the gender and/or family status ground during the period immediately following her return from maternity leave up until the date of her resignation.

Mr Somers BL, counsel for the Complainant, submits that his client suffered continued discrimination during the aforementioned period because of her level of responsibility in the workplace had effectively been reduced following her return from maternity leave and the Respondent had failed throughout that period to restore her to her former level of seniority which she had enjoyed prior to going on maternity leave.

Discussion and Decision

Having considered the parties’ submissions on the jurisdictional issue, it appears to the Court that both the substantive claim and the issue of whether or not the claim was referred to the Equality Tribunal within time are inextricably intertwined in this case. In the circumstances, therefore, the Court determines that the matter should be remitted to the Workplace Relations Commission for a full investigation of the substantive claim in accordance with section 84(4) of the 1998 Act.

The Court so determines.

Signed on behalf of the Labour Court



Alan Haugh
CR______________________
21 March, 2018Deputy Chairman



NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Ciaran Roche, Court Secretary.