Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Dayle McNulty Gill

Cineworld

Representatives

Did not attend the hearing 

Arthur Cox Solicitors

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-00049077-001

08/03/2022

At the opening of the hearing, Ms English informed me that Mr McNulty Gill resigned the day after he submitted this complaint and he left his job two weeks later, on March 22nd 2022.

Mr McNulty Gill worked as a team member in Cineworld in Parnell Street in Dublin.  His cousin worked there as a team leader.  Early in 2022, Mr McNulty Gill applied for a job as a team leader.  Although he attended an interview for the position, he was informed that he would not be promoted because the company has a policy not to employ family members at the same grade.  His complaint is that he was discriminated against on the ground of family status.

Mr McNulty Gill did not attend the hearing.

Mr McNulty Gill asserts that he was discriminated against due to his relationship with his cousin.  On behalf of Cineworld, Ms Barry said that this falls outside the scope of the definition of family status and she submitted that the Workplace Relations Commission has no basis on which to examine the substance of his complaint.  As Mr McNulty Gill filed his complaint based on a fundamental misunderstanding of the meaning of the protected ground of family status and the protections afforded under the Employment Equality Acts, Ms Barry asked me to dismiss his complaint.

The Legal Framework

The legal framework prohibiting discrimination on nine specific grounds is set out at section 6(1) of the Employment Equality Act 1998 – 2015 (“the Act”). 

“…discrimination shall be taken to occur where –

(a) a person is treated less favourably than another person is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the grounds specified in sub-section (2), in this Act, referred to as the ‘discriminatory grounds’…”

At sub-section (2)(c), the “the family status ground” islisted as one of the nine discriminatory grounds.  Mr McNulty Gill’s case is that he was discriminated against when he wasn’t promoted to the role of team leader because his cousin had a job as a team leader.

Section 2 of the Act, under the heading of “Interpretation,” provides that “family status” means having responsibility - 

(a) as a parent or as a person in loco parentis in relation to a person who has not attained the age of 18 years, or

(b) as a parent or the resident primary carer in relation to a person of or over that age with a disability which is of such a nature as to give rise to the need for care or support on a continuing, regular or frequent basis,

and, for the purposes of paragraph (b), a primary carer is a resident primary carer in relation to a person with a disability if the primary carer resides with the person with the disability[.]

It Is apparent that Mr McNulty Gill’s claim that he was discriminated against because he is a cousin of a team leader falls outside the scope of the definition of family status. 

As I have concluded that Mr McNulty Gill’s complaint is not encompassed by the definition of discrimination on the ground of family status as set out in the Employment Equality Act 1998, I decide that his complaint is not well founded.

Discrimination, family status, cousin