Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Fares  Sabbagh

Yahya Al Hussein

Representatives

Jason O Halloran

Ms Bebhinn Murphy BL instructed by Faisal Khan FSK Solicitors

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

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

CA-00057179-001

17/06/2023

This complaint was received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 17th June 2023.

Please see preliminary matter raised by the Respondent.

PRELIMINARY MATTER:

The Respondent

1.       The Respondent nominated by the Complainant in his complaint form is Yahya Al-Hussein  (aka Sheikh Yahya). Mr Al-Hussein is the Imam (religious leader) of the Islamic Foundation of Ireland (hereafter ‘the IFI’), which manages the mosque located at South Circular Road, Dublin 8. 

2.       The IFI was the Complainant’s employer up until the time of his redundancy. The identity of this employer is clear from the Complainant’s contract of employment. The Complainant was employed by the IFI from July 2019 until his redundancy in 2023 and is also an ongoing member of the IFI’s congregation as a practising Muslim.

3.       The matter has been referred for adjudication under section 77 of the 1998 Act, that is to say that the Adjudicator is to consider a complaint that the named Respondent discriminated against the Complainant. The Complainant’s recently received ‘Statement of Case’ attempts to substitute the IFI as the Respondent. This substitution is opposed by the Respondent and any attempt to do so at the hearing of this matter will be strongly resisted.

4.       Respondent’ is defined under the above named Act as: 

(b) “the respondent” means the person who is alleged to have discriminated against the complainant or, as the case may be, who is responsible for providing the remuneration to which the equal remuneration term relates or who is responsible for providing the benefit under the equality clause or who is alleged to be responsible for  the victimisation.

The Respondent submits that there was no reason to misidentify the respondent in this case. In any event, the Complainant’s complaints which run to 112 items are clearly directed against the Respondent personally. The Complainant has explicitly chosen to make this complaint directed at the Respondent personally, which he must prove in fact and in law. 

The Relevant Time Period

The Complainant’s complaint is limited to consideration of matters within a period of six months backdated from the date of the complaint. The Act prescribes a time limit of six months as follows: 

5.(a)Subject to paragraph (b), a claim for redress in respect of discrimination or victimisation may not be referred under this section after the end of the period of 6 months from the date of occurrence of the discrimination or victimisation to which the case relates or, as the case may be, the date of its most recent occurrence. 

The complaint was made on 17 June 2023 and therefore the Adjudicator is restricted to events or matters occurring on or after 18 December 2022. 

On the preliminary matter it is impossible to disagree with the points made by the Respondent representative. The Complainant was employed by the Islamic Foundation of Ireland and not by Yahya Al-Hussein. The Respondent representative has objected to any motion to change the name of the Respondent, as is her right.

The complaint fails on the preliminary point raised by the Respondent representative. I have no alternative but to find that the complaint as presented is not well founded.

The complaint fails on the preliminary point raised by the Respondent representative. I have no alternative but to find that the complaint as presented is not well founded.

Employment Equality Act, 1998