Michael Woodlock ordered to pay €15,000 for HAP discrimination

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

The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Michael Woodlock to pay €15,000 for housing assistance discrimination in a decision dated 21 February 2023.

The adjudication officer found that Woodlock discriminated against Magdalena Kotecka in relation to her Housing Assistance Payment. Kotecka had received HAP from 2017, but it stopped in September that year; the officer found that Woodlock later pressured her to pay the full rent or leave, and that she found him intimidating.

The officer said a text from Woodlock stated, “We don’t do business with HAP.” Kotecka’s representative said Woodlock’s secretary told him in January 2022 that Woodlock wanted to comply but could not because Revenue would not issue him with a tax clearance certificate.

Woodlock did not attend the hearing, and the decision records that he provided no evidence in his defence. The officer found the complaint well founded and described the prohibited conduct as at the upper end of the scale.