WRC rejects Alina Holowczak’s religious discrimination complaint

The Workplace Relations Commission found that Alina Holowczak was not discriminated against after a manager told her to remove a chain bearing a religious medal. The decision was dated 15 September 2023. Holowczak said colleagues wearing non-religious chains were allowed to keep them. The adjudicator found that her manager did not know the chain had religious significance when he instructed her to remove it, and that she had not shown less favourable treatment compared with colleagues in similar circumstances. The adjudicator concluded that Holowczak had not established a prima facie case. This means she had not provided facts sufficient to raise an inference of discrimination, so the complaint did not succeed.