The Workplace Relations Commission ordered The Board of Management Farnham NS to pay teacher Paulette Leonard €20,000 after finding she was penalised for exercising her parental-leave rights. The decision was dated 30 June 2023.
Leonard complained about the handling of her parental-leave requests and the Deputy Principal recruitment process. The Board argued that the leave-dates complaint was out of time and denied penalising her in the recruitment process.
The WRC found it had no jurisdiction to hear the complaint about the leave dates because the final decision on them was communicated in July 2020 and the complaint was made outside the time limit. The merits of that part were not decided.
The recruitment complaint was within time. The adjudication officer found that Leonard’s parental-leave history had been raised during interview preparation and was considered relevant to her application in a negative way. The WRC concluded that she had been treated unfairly for exercising her rights and found penalisation contrary to section 16A of the Parental Leave Act. It ordered the Board to pay €20,000 compensation.