FULL RECOMMENDATION
SECTION 83 (1), EMPLOYMENT EQUALITY ACTS, 1998 TO 2015 PARTIES : IARNROD EIREANN - AND - MONICA MURPHY DIVISION :
SUBJECT: 1.Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No. ADJ-00019108 CA-00024900 This is an appeal by Ms Monica Murphy (‘the Complainant’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00019108, dated 16 April 2020) under the Employment Equality Act 1998 (‘the Act’). The Complainant’s Notice of Appeal was received on 22 May 2020. The Court heard the appeal in a virtual courtroom on 19 March 2021. The Complainant retired from her employment with Iarnr�d Éireann on 3 August 2018. She referred her complaint at first instance to the Workplace Relations Commission on 9 January 2019. As the complaint relates to alleged discriminatory treatment and victimisation in relation to the Complainant’s terms and conditions of employment, it follows that the period comprehended by the complaint is 10 July 2018 to 3 August 2018. The Complainant availed herself of an early retirement arrangement on 3 August 2018 that had been agreed with the Respondent as part of a binding compromise agreement the Parties had entered into on 2 February 2018. During the twenty-six-week period between the date of the compromise agreement and the date of the Complainant’s early retirement, the Complainant availed herself of certified sick leave and annual leave totalling some sixteen weeks. During the relevant period, the Complainant held the position of Marketing Communications Manager Transformation, reporting to Mr Michael Power. She worked from home (at her own request) and was provided with the necessary equipment to do so, including a mobile telephone, a computer and printer, by the Respondent. Nevertheless, it appears that the Complainant did not make use of that equipment (other than on one occasion) between April 2018 and the date of her early retirement. Mr Power, the Complainant’s line manager, made two attempts to contact the Complainant by email (outside of the periods when she was on certified sick leave), on 27 June 2018 and again in late July 2018. Both emails went unanswered by the Complainant. The one occasion when the Complainant did turn on her work computer was for the purpose of composing a seven-page grievance letter, dated 27 July 2018, to the Respondent’s CEO, much of which is taken up with reprising the history of the Complainant’s long service with the Respondent and the events that culminated in the compromise agreement of February 2018. It appears that the only issue that the Complainant can identify as an alleged act of discrimination and/or victimisation in the period comprehended by the within complaint is the CEO’s failure to respond to her letter of grievance in the short period between the date of the letter – 27 July 2018 – and her retirement on 3 August 2018. It appears that a comprehensive reply was furnished on 3 September 2018 to the Complainant’s grievance letter. Discussion and Decision Having considered the Parties’ written and oral submissions, the Court finds that the Complainant has failed to establish any facts from which an inference of discrimination or victimisation could be inferred. The appeal is, therefore, dismissed and the decision of the Adjudication Officer is upheld. The Court so determines.
NOTE Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Orla Collender, Court Secretary. |
