Sarah Adam awarded €35,000 for maternity leave discrimination

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

Sarah Adam was awarded €35,000 by the Workplace Relations Commission for gender and family status discrimination, reported on 23 December 2022.

Adam had worked as an art teacher in the education board’s school network from September 2019 until her fixed-term contract expired in August 2020.

After returning from maternity leave, she interviewed for a new art teacher contract in July 2020, but another candidate was appointed.

The adjudicator found significant discrepancies in the interview process and concluded the board had not rebutted the inference of discrimination.

The WRC upheld her complaints of discrimination on gender and family status grounds, while rejecting her complaints of harassment and victimisation.