The High Court has barred Deirdre Morgan from bringing further proceedings or complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) against the Minister for Education and Skills or Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board (KWETB) over her employment, removal from office or related pension and gratuity matters without the court’s prior leave.
In a judgment delivered on 1 June 2022, Mr Justice Cian Ferriter also struck out all of Morgan’s outstanding WRC complaints against the Minister and KWETB, all her pending Labour Court appeals, and cases in the High Court and Circuit Court. The orders were made under the High Court’s inherent jurisdiction to prevent abuse of process.
Morgan had worked as an art teacher at Abbey Community College. The Minister ordered her removal from office on 15 June 2015, following disciplinary proceedings by the education board and a statutory inquiry into her fitness for office. The judgment recounts earlier proceedings over her 2010 allegation of sexual harassment by a student. Morgan withdrew the allegation during an investigation; the investigator found it unfounded. A later inquiry officer said the evidence before him was insufficient to reach a definite conclusion about whether it had a factual basis. The Minister’s removal order followed that inquiry and its findings on several matters.
The judgment records that earlier WRC and Labour Court decisions had rejected claims concerning the removal, including claims dismissed as out of time, res judicata or unsupported by evidence. It also notes that the Labour Court’s 2020 decision rejecting Morgan’s penalisation claim was upheld by the High Court in March 2022. Separate High Court rulings delivered on 1 June 2022 dismissed her appeals on points of law concerning discrimination and pension claims, and refused leave to seek judicial review in two cases.
The court found that the remaining complaints and proceedings sought to revisit matters already determined. It held that the High Court could intervene in exceptional circumstances to strike out WRC proceedings, although the WRC has its own statutory powers to dismiss frivolous or vexatious complaints. The WRC was not a party to the applications.
The court also struck out a High Court salary claim for €210,255, which was based on Morgan’s assertion that she remained employed after July 2015, and a Circuit Court case seeking, among other relief, salary and pension-related orders. The judgment states that she had been removed from her position in June 2015.
The leave requirement applies to future proceedings or WRC complaints against the Minister or KWETB concerning Morgan’s employment with the board, including suspension, termination, pension and gratuity matters. The judgment does not bar unrelated proceedings.