Courts / Laois / Report

Claims of ageist pay discrimination at top levels of Prison Service dismissed

Summary

Three senior officials in the Irish Prison Service have failed in equality claims at the Workplace Relations Commission, alleging they faced age discrimination through unequal pay. The claimants—operations director Don Culliton, ICT and governance director Donna Creaven, and former acting director of HR Trevor Jordan—each sought salary increases of between €32,000 and €36,000 to match the €142,892 pay of former director of care and rehabilitation Fergal Black. Ms Creaven also claimed gender discrimination. The Prison Service maintained that Mr Black's higher salary reflected "red-circling"—retention of original contractual terms—dating from his 1993 appointment and preserved during the agency's 2007 decentralisation to Longford, when medical qualifications ceased to be mandatory. Adjudicator Breiffni O'Neill accepted the respondent's historical account and found the pay disparity objectively justified, rejecting all three complaints.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Claims of ageist pay discrimination at top levels of Prison Service dismissed. Charges or matters: ageist pay discrimination; gender discrimination. Procedural stage: charge_or_pretrial

When:

• 1993 to 2007 Other
• 2024-02-08 Publication

Why: Senior officials in the Irish Prison Service who claimed they were being subjected to ageist discrimination because one of their colleagues was earning tens of thousands a year more for similar work have lost their claims at the Workplace Relations Commission. CNI source report

Case subjects

Places mentioned

Topics

Stage Charge Or Pretrial

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Read the original CNI report