The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has awarded Denise O'Shea €2,500 after finding that the Health Service Executive victimised her over access to clinical practice hours for a cognitive behavioural therapy course. The decision was dated 20 July 2023.
O'Shea said she was victimised after taking earlier complaints about her employer to the WRC. She raised concerns about completing her CBT clinical practice hours, family-friendly working hours, conditions compared with more junior staff and lactation facilities. The HSE said it could not fund a second postgraduate course while she was already receiving support for another, and said it had offered workplace arrangements that she declined.
The WRC did not uphold the claims about lactation facilities, working conditions or promised family-friendly hours. It found that O'Shea had been offered a nine-to-five position and turned it down. But it found that clinical practice hours were provided inconsistently, with no clear policy, and that victimisation had been established in relation to those hours. It awarded €2,500 compensation. The finding concerned the handling of her training hours, not the other workplace allegations.