Four lecturers sue NUI Galway over gender discrimination

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Dr Sylvie Lannegrand, Dr Róisín Healy, Dr Margaret Hodgins and Dr Adrienne Gorman initiated gender-discrimination proceedings against NUI Galway in the High Court in April 2015. The actions came before Mr Justice Donald Binchy on 20 July 2016, when the university asked for legal issues to be tried first.

The lecturers allege they were treated less favourably because of gender or family status during a promotion competition for senior-lecturer posts. They seek declarations, damages and promotion-related orders, while NUI Galway denies the claims and argues that the Workplace Relations Commission is the proper forum.

The preliminary questions include whether employment-equality law created an implied contractual right to gender equality and whether European Union law supports a damages claim. The judge was due to give his decision on the preliminary application the following week.