The Workplace Relations Commission recommended that a waste management company pay a worker €10,000 after finding she was unfairly treated when demoted from her supervisor role. In a decision dated 28 November 2016, the adjudication officer also rejected her separate race discrimination complaint.
The woman had supervised the evening shift for more than three years. After the company removed her from the roster in December 2015, she moved to the day shift and her wages fell by €100 a week. The company said it ended payments for supervisory hours it considered unworked and introduced formal recruitment for supervisor roles requiring English proficiency.
The officer found that an English proficiency requirement could disadvantage employees whose native language was not English, but the successful candidate for the second supervisor role was also Lithuanian. She concluded that the race discrimination complaint failed. The officer found that the supervisory role had been formalised and recommended €10,000 compensation for the general unfairness of the worker’s treatment.