The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that landlord Michael Woodlock Flancare discriminated against Magdalena Kotecka in connection with her Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and ordered him to pay €15,000 compensation. The decision was dated 21 February 2023.
Kotecka said her HAP payments stopped at the end of September 2017. She told the WRC that Flancare later pressed her to pay the full rent or leave, and that between May and September 2020 she paid the full amount under that pressure. She brought a complaint under the Equal Status Act, which prohibits discrimination on specified grounds, including the housing assistance ground.
Flancare did not attend the hearing. The adjudication officer was satisfied he knew about it and had chosen not to attend or seek a postponement. The officer found Kotecka had established a prima facie case: evidence that, unless answered, supported a finding of discrimination. The officer noted that she was in her situation because she received HAP, and that a tenant not receiving HAP would not be in the same situation. The complaint was found well founded.
The officer described the prohibited conduct as being at the upper end of the scale and set compensation at €15,000. Kotecka had reported rent arrears of €19,130.30, but that was her reported arrears figure, not the compensation awarded.