Labour Court disallows Tesco Ireland overtime discrimination appeal

The Labour Court disallowed Mandate’s appeal on behalf of nine female Tesco Ireland employees over access to Christmas overtime, finding they had not established a right to redress for alleged sex discrimination. The case concerned a temporary night crew at Tesco’s toy store in Omni Park, Santry, before Christmas 1995. Five male merchandisers were assigned to the crew and received overtime premiums; other staff, including the complainants, were not invited to apply. The Court found no evidence that any complainant had sought and been refused access to the crew or wished to do the work. It said accommodating checkout staff would have required extra merchandisers or redeploying existing ones, and doubted the Act required either step. It noted that Tesco and Mandate had since agreed a formal method for allocating Christmas overtime. The Court signed its determination on 15 August 2005, concurring with the Equality Officer and disallowing the appeal.