The Workplace Relations Commission found that Easy Meals Limited directly discriminated against Stacey Barrett by dismissing her because of pregnancy-related illness and ordered it to pay her €16,000 compensation. The WRC also awarded her €500 for failing to provide written employment terms. Adjudication Officer Lefre de Burgh dated the decision 29 August 2023.
Barrett worked part-time as a line cook at the company’s takeaway in Millstreet, Co. Cork. She said she told her employer she was pregnant and later missed work because of illness. The adjudicator found the company knew of her pregnancy when it dismissed her and that the dismissal was discriminatory on the gender ground. She also accepted Barrett’s evidence that she had received no contract or written terms.
The separate family-status discrimination allegation was not made out, and a disability reasonable-accommodation complaint was withdrawn before the hearing. Easy Meals did not appear, though the adjudicator found it had notice of the hearing. The adjudicator allowed the company to be joined as a respondent, finding it was aware of the case and that no prejudice or injustice would accrue from joining it.