The High Court awarded an applicant €824,794 in damages for loss of earnings after finding that her exclusion from a Defence Forces promotion process while on maternity leave breached EU equal-treatment provisions.
The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Eagar on 10 July 2017, dealt with damages following earlier orders in the judicial review. In July 2016, the court declared that the applicant qualified for promotion from Captain to Commandant under Defence Forces Regulations A15, including fixed-period promotion from 28 July 2013. It also declared that the respondents had breached provisions of Directive 2006/54/EC on equal opportunities and equal treatment in employment.
The court had adjourned the damages issue. At a hearing on 9 May 2017, it considered agreed actuarial evidence from Nigel Tennant of Seagrave – Daly & Lynch Limited. The applicant had since obtained work as an engineer with Bord Gáis.
The judgment records pension loss of €378,000, gratuity loss of €80,484 and a current contribution to Gas Networks of €114,000, with a stated subtotal of €344,484. It also records past loss of earnings of €436 and overseas duties for future duties of €67,477. The court stated that the total loss was €412,397 and doubled the figures because the award was taxable, making the award €824,794.
The applicant’s counsel proposed calling her to give evidence about the effect of the treatment she received, for a general-damages award. The court declined to determine that issue in this judicial review. It noted that, unlike an earlier case cited by the applicant, no application had been made to convert these proceedings into a plenary hearing. The court said it would deal with the matter through the loss of earnings supported by the evidence.
The respondents’ counsel argued that the applicant’s departure from the Army had not been mentioned during the proceedings or in the papers, and that compensation should be limited to earnings lost because she was not promoted. The court rejected the suggestion that her departure was not reasonably foreseeable. It said the applicant had been excluded from the promotion process while on maternity leave, had not been told a promotion board was being established, and had been treated differently from male colleagues. The court’s order was confined to the €824,794 loss-of-earnings award.