In 1989, the Labour Court rejected Lissadell Towels Limited’s appeal in an equal-pay dispute brought by 56 female employees represented by the Irish Transport And General Workers' Union. The determination was signed on 3 July 1989.
After inspecting the work at the factory, the Court found that manual hemming, robe work, cutting in line with scissors, examining and embroidery were equal in value to packing. It found other listed claimant jobs were not equal in value to the comparator work. The company did not establish that shift-work liability explained the pay differences, and the Court rejected its arguments that negotiated differences justified the bonus scheme.
The Court determined that claimants doing the specified equal-value work were entitled to the packer's basic pay for the relevant periods from 2 July 1982, and to bonus from 70% of standard for those same periods.