WRC rejects Natasha Nowacki’s discrimination complaint against Moyne Veterinary Clinic partners

The Workplace Relations Commission found that Natasha Nowacki’s complaint against Laurence Wall, Tomas O’Shea and Joseph Kavanagh, Veterinary Partnership t/a Moyne Veterinary Clinic was not well founded. The decision was dated 13 January 2020. Nowacki, a veterinary surgeon paid by commission, said her workload and earnings fell after she returned from maternity leave in 2015. She alleged discrimination on gender and family status grounds and harassment. The partnership disputed that her terms or commission rates changed, citing reduced testing requirements and staffing circumstances. The officer accepted that her income fell and that staffing affected the work available to her, but found she had not established discrimination on either ground. The officer also found no direct evidence relating to harassment.