The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) awarded Leeanne Moore €17,500 after finding she was discriminated against and victimised when Brandon Taverns Limited dismissed her five days after she told her manager she was pregnant. It also awarded her €500 over the employer’s failure to provide written employment terms.
The decision, dated 17 October 2024, concerned Moore’s work as a floor supervisor at The Imperial bar and restaurant in Cavan town. She said she was dismissed because of her pregnancy and had not received written terms. The company denied the dismissal was pregnancy-related, saying she had failed to meet expectations during probation.
The adjudication officer found that the company had not provided credible evidence that the dismissal was unrelated to the pregnancy. The decision cited the five-day gap between Moore telling her manager and the termination, and noted that the company had refused her request for written reasons. It also found that the employer accepted it had not provided a statement of employment terms. The €17,500 was compensation for the effects of discrimination and victimisation, and to deter future discriminatory acts. A third equality complaint was treated as a repetition of the first, not a separate award.