Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
A DUBLIN HAIRDRESSER has been awarded €10,000 for being dismissed while pregnant.
She was awarded the money by the Labour Court which said her dismissal was discriminatory.
The incident happened in 2014 when the complainant in the case, Shaunai Reilly, was let go five months after informing her employer, Hair Creations, that she was pregnant.
The commission felt that the respondent hadn’t done enough to get rid of the presumption that the complainant was fired because she was pregnant, and therefore her termination was discriminatory.
How did this come about?
Before the incident, the complainant said she was doing very well in her position. She felt she was building up a loyal clientele and had received praise and encouragement from management.
When she became pregnant at the end of January 2014, she told the company about her pregnancy and her need to attend hospital appointments.
The complainant argued that after her employer learned she was pregnant, she was treated differently. She no longer received any favourable feedback and more junior staff were given priority for better hairdressing duties over her.
She complained about an incident in the staff room in March 2014. She said she was subjected to hostile and aggressive behaviour by her manager and that she was restrained from leaving the room. She said she was frightened, was crying hysterically and had to call her mother.
On 19 July 2014, the complainant express dissatisfaction that she was not given her full break entitlements and that her legs had become very swollen after only a 10 minute break.
Two days later her employer told her there was no work for her, and she was going to be let go. She could come back later after she had her baby and they would ‘see what they could do’.
Hair Creations argued that the complainant was let go because her four-year apprenticeship had finished, and that not all apprentices were given jobs after their training.
The respondent said that the comment about seeing what they could do was something they had said to other apprentices because they could not afford to keep them on at the time.
Commission ruling
The commission found that the respondent had not cleared the high bar set by the law on protection from discrimination during pregnancy.
The Employment Equality Acts state that it should be presumed that a complainant is dismissed for being pregnant unless the respondent proves the contrary.
Pregnancy has been held to be a ‘special, protected period’ in order to limit the adverse effects of discriminatory treatment on women workers and their unborn children.
Hair Creations had not produced any evidence that the complainant had registered with them for an apprenticeship, or that she had been given any contract of employment.
While the commission did not find discrimination during employment, they did rule in the complainant’s favour on the claim of discriminatory dismissal.
It ordered Hair Creations to pay her €10,000.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
That’s a significant shortfall. I would imagine compensation and workload are barriers to recruitment. Good luck with that….
This could be a good time for a Fact Check…..
Is there a sign on window staff wanted apply within.
Are all of these vacancies at front line medical staff level or are they ALL vacancies – admin, cleaning, managerial etc.? It would be good to know the facts.
It might shock you to realise that without admin and support staff a hospital simply couldn’t operate. Who buys in supplies? Who delivers them to the wards and theatre? Who negotiates with suppliers for best price? Who runs the tenders for the big contracts to ensure top service and value for money? Your money, you the taxpayer. And that’s only one area of admin. Who pays the suppliers to ensure continuance of supply? We lowly admin people may not be treating patients but our contribution is vital to the smooth running of the hospital. It’ll also interest you to know that most hospitals have outside contractors for cleaning and so those staff wouldn’t be included in the numbers.
“Top service and value for money” ….are you having a laugh. The public service is hamstrung by the unions who do not allow any flexibility of work practices. Demarcation is the order of the day! And as for procurement, the public service procurement function is the absolute worst example of how to get value for the tax payer!
We are operating under EU procurement rules. So go and take it up with them. Or why don’t you come in and do a better job if we’re making such a hash of it. We have had to be very flexible in the last few years as nobody who left was replaced. So the work had to be absorbed by the remaining staff. But hey, don’t listen to someone who is actually working in the area, sit back at your keyboard and criticise a job you don’t do and are therefore clueless about. Better still, sack all the admin staff and give all their work to the frontline staff. And watch hospitals collapse under the strain. Idiot!
If you want to contact someone in the hospital who do you ring? Admin staff. If you want to know when a test is? Admin staff. Need to query something with a doctor/nurse? Admin staff. Need the hospital cleaned? Admin staff. Need the patients fed? Admin staff. Need patients transported around the hospital? Admin staff. I could go on.
I would say staff shortages will soon cost more than they save once the lawsuits for patients not receiving enough care start happening.
Living in Dublin is just too expensive. Until the housing emergency is solved this will only get worse.
And you can thank Kenny, Noonan and Burton for that. Great thinkers and forward planners!
I can imagine the adverts trying to woo nurses, doctors and physios home “come to Ireland, where you will be paid less, taxed more, be scapegoated by your manager, the hospital, the HSE and the government, where politicians will spin things to make the public think you are overpaid and underworked….”. I can imagine those living in Australia, Canada etc chomping at the bit to leave their well paid and respected jobs to come home.
” keep the recovery going” brings a whole new meaning to noonan’s comment. . .
Following an injury (dislocated shoulder) I ended up in the casualty department in Beaumont at 22:30. I got the best treatment. Everybody was so so nice and so efficient. No waiting.
For all my follow up appointments I ve been seen within 15mins of the given time. (Today I’ve been seen by the physio 5 minutes before the time.)
Well done to all the staff there. They deserve a medal!
have your say