Rebecca Murphy's WRC discrimination complaint awaits decision

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

Dr Rebecca Murphy’s discrimination complaint against Dublin City University over a permanent job advertised during her maternity leave was heard by the Workplace Relations Commission on 26 November 2024. The university denied the complaint, saying she had been notified through an internal vacancy email sent to all staff.

Murphy said she learned of the permanent assistant professor post only after returning from maternity leave, which ran from June 2023 to March 2024. Her representative argued that DCU’s policy said staff on maternity leave would, where possible, be notified of vacancies by their head of school.

DCU said the policy’s “where possible” wording was discretionary and that Murphy retained access to internal vacancy emails.

The head of the school of nursing, Professor Victoria Lambert, said she knew the post was going to be advertised but did not inform Murphy. She said it would have been possible to notify her, but that other people would also have to be informed and it was not possible to inform everyone.

The WRC adjudicator closed the hearing and was expected to issue a written decision.