A government body defeated an Assistant Auditor’s claims over his pay and equal pay on age grounds in a WRC decision dated 2 November 2017. The WRC found the complainant was properly paid on the merged scale and had not established evidence to support an inference of age discrimination.
The Assistant Auditor claimed €4,608 in wages, arguing that the €46,081 rate applied to his role instead of his €41,473 salary. The government body said new entrants were placed on merged pay scales, while colleagues who had joined before 2010 retained their earlier rates. The WRC found the complainant’s signed undertaking referred to the merged scales and that the Assistant Auditor grade had traditionally been filled through open recruitment.
He also sought equal pay with colleagues, including a comparator earning €58,000. The WRC found he had not provided details of the comparators’ earnings or work to support his age discrimination claim. It found it lacked jurisdiction to investigate his separate Industrial Relations Act claim; the merits of that claim were not decided.