WRC rejects veterinary inspector’s shift discrimination complaint

The Workplace Relations Commission found Thomas P Meagher’s complaint against the Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine was not well founded. The decision, dated 14 February 2023, concerned his claim that the allocation of shifts discriminated against him on family status grounds and that he was victimised. Meagher, a qualified veterinary surgeon employed as a Temporary Veterinary Inspector, said he had repeatedly sought a move from slaughterhouse shifts to ante-mortem work. He believed his length of service should have helped secure the change. The Department argued that he had not shown discrimination or victimisation. It also raised preliminary objections, including that the claim was out of time and that the Veterinary Office named on the complaint form was not a legal entity. The WRC allowed the Department to be substituted as respondent and found it had jurisdiction to hear the complaint. The WRC found Meagher had provided no evidence of discrimination on family status grounds and had not identified a ground of discrimination that could be considered under the Act. Family status in this context concerns responsibility as a parent, or in place of a parent, for someone under 18. The complaint was therefore not well founded.