Equality Officer Hugh Lonsdale found that Pure Escape Limited discriminated against Shauna Richardson in training because she was pregnant and ordered the company to pay her €4,000. The decision was dated 8 July 2013.
Richardson said she was denied Guinot training before maternity leave while another employee received it. Pure Escape said she had received substantial training and cited her sales performance and a downturn in business to explain its decisions about her work.
The officer found that Richardson received no training after the company learned she was pregnant, apart from one day linked to earlier training. Another employee attended the Guinot course, and the officer found the company delayed Richardson’s training because of her pregnancy. Her promotion complaint failed because extending probation and making her permanent did not amount to promotion. Her equal-pay complaint also failed because the comparator sold many more treatments and she could not dispute the company’s figures. Richardson withdrew her discriminatory dismissal complaint after an Employment Appeals Tribunal hearing on that dismissal had begun.