An Equality Officer awarded a worker €12,000 after finding that a catering business discriminated against her by dismissing her earlier than it otherwise would have because of her pregnancy-related absence. Equality Officer Gary Dixon dated the decision 24 June 2015.
The worker, a delicatessen chef, said she was dismissed on 20 September 2012 when she returned from sick leave following a miscarriage. The business said falling trade required staff reductions and another employee was also dismissed. The officer accepted that the worker would eventually have been laid off, but found the timing of her dismissal was facilitated by her pregnancy-related absence and that the business had not rebutted the inference of discrimination.
The gender discrimination complaint succeeded, and the business was ordered to pay €12,000 compensation for the effects of the discriminatory treatment. The family-status complaint was not well founded because no separate case of discrimination on that ground had been established.