The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that Peter Doody could not relitigate his age-discrimination complaint over Transdev Dublin Light Rail Limited’s mandatory retirement age of 65. The decision, dated 15 June 2023, addressed a preliminary legal issue; the discrimination merits were not decided.
Doody said requiring him to retire on his 65th birthday, in January 2020, amounted to direct age discrimination. Transdev argued that the Labour Court had already found its retirement age for tram drivers objectively justified. Doody maintained that his individual circumstances and developments since the earlier case deserved consideration.
Adjudication officer Maria Kelly found that the Labour Court’s 2016 decision had definitively determined the same issue and applied to Transdev’s tram drivers generally, not only to the employee in that earlier case. The WRC therefore found Doody was estopped from contesting the retirement age and its justification. Estoppel is a legal rule that prevents a matter already decided from being argued again. The WRC made no finding on whether requiring Doody to retire was discriminatory in his own case.