The Workplace Relations Commission found it had no jurisdiction to hear Lukasz Woloszyn’s Equal Status complaint against Mary Casey over her refusal to accept Housing Assistance Payment (HAP). In a decision dated 24 November 2020, the WRC found Woloszyn had notified Casey of the alleged discrimination outside the statutory two-month limit; the merits were not decided.
Woloszyn said Casey refused his request to accept HAP in 2017 and again in January 2020. Casey said she planned to sell the property and had been told by the local authority that she did not have to accept HAP. The officer identified an alleged refusal in January 2019 as the relevant incident and noted that formal notification was not made until November 2020. The officer did not accept Woloszyn’s lack of awareness of the time limit as an exceptional reason for the delay.