The Workplace Relations Commission found Jana Gogova’s discrimination complaints against the Legal Aid Board (Jervis Street) Law Centre not well founded in a decision dated 17 October 2023. She had alleged discrimination over access to legal aid and an employment agreement.
Gogova said the Board denied her a legal aid certificate for an appeal involving a Residential Tenancies Board decision, because of her race, civil status, family status and receipt of Housing Assistance Payment. The Board said it had offered to make an application on her behalf, but she did not instruct it to do so.
The adjudicator found the Board had assessed the case under the Civil Legal Aid Act and that Gogova had not established facts from which discrimination could be presumed. Counsel had advised that an application to extend the appeal deadline would fail and could lead to substantial costs. The first complaint concerned an alleged discriminatory employment agreement; Gogova presented no employment case at the hearing. The Commission found both complaints not well founded.