Labour Court upholds ESB equal pay decision on Geraldine Walsh’s appeal

The Labour Court disallowed Geraldine Walsh’s appeal against an Equality Officer decision in her equal pay case against ESB, upholding the decision. The determination was dated 16 February 2006. Walsh, an assistant cook and housekeeper at ESB’s Bellacorrick power station, argued that dayworkers’ cleaning duties resembled her own. ESB said the dayworkers worked in a heavy industrial setting and had greater physical demands and responsibilities. The Court found the dayworkers’ skills, physical requirements, responsibilities and working conditions exceeded those required of Walsh. It concluded the jobs were not like work and that their differences justified different pay.