The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Marsha Flannery €9,000 after finding that Unislim Limited discriminated against her in the course of her employment. The decision, dated 3 January 2023, concerned her return to work after maternity leave.
Flannery said proposed return-to-work terms reduced her hours and failed to recognise her service dating from 2016. Unislim said the pandemic had sharply reduced classes and available work, but that it wanted her to return. The adjudication officer found that a proposed contract did not recognise her service and that the employer had not rebutted her evidence of discrimination on gender and family-status grounds.
The award was compensation for the effects of discrimination. A separate complaint under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 was not well founded and failed; Flannery did not give evidence or pursue it.