The Workplace Relations Commission found Denise O’ Shea’s discrimination complaint against the Health Service Executive was not well founded and dismissed it. Adjudication Officer Marguerite Buckley’s decision was dated 21 June 2018.
O’ Shea said the HSE refused support and funding for the second year of her cognitive behavioural therapy course because she was pregnant and planned clinical placement during maternity leave. The HSE said she had already received funding for a specialist course within the previous 36 months and had not followed its application process.
The adjudicator accepted the HSE’s evidence that O’ Shea would not have been accommodated for the placement even if she had not been on maternity leave. She found that O’ Shea did not qualify for course funding under the HSE circular and that the HSE could decline her request to return to work during maternity leave.