Courts / Dublin / Report

Brendan Ogle says colleague and friend's alleged actions were 'gravest disappointment'

Date
2024-02-29

Stage
Charge Or Pretrial

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

Brendan Ogle, a Unite trade‑unionist, has lodged a complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 alleging that the union discriminated against him on disability grounds after his return to work in 2022 following a cancer diagnosis. He claims a colleague, Tom Fitzgerald, told him that Unite's general secretary Sharon Graham had directed that he be excluded from a new strategy for Ireland. Ogle says his line manager, Jackie Pollock, and HR manager Richard Griffiths were surprised by this claim, and that a meeting with Graham's deputy Gail Cartmail denied any such directive. The case was adjourned by the Workplace Relations Commission to April, with hearings held at Lansdowne House in Ballsbridge. The proceedings were attended by the public, and the adjudicator warned against recording the hearing. Ogle's evidence was presented by his counsel, Mark Harty SC, and the union's counsel, Mary‑Paula Guinness BL, engaged in heated exchanges during the hearing.