The Labour Court allowed Ann Aziz’s appeal against the dismissal of her gender discrimination complaint against Ballarat Clothing Ltd, setting aside the Equality Officer’s decision and sending the case back to the Equality Tribunal for a decision on its merits. The determination was dated 23 January 2015.
Aziz said she had mistakenly named two company directors instead of the company on her complaint form. Ballarat Clothing Ltd argued that the Court had no authority to substitute it as the respondent. The company said it had known about the naming error from early 2012 and would suffer no prejudice if the complaint named it correctly.
The Court considered it disproportionate to bar the complaint over the technical error when the correct respondent knew about it and would suffer no prejudice. The appeal decision did not determine whether Aziz had been discriminated against; that complaint will be heard and decided by the Equality Tribunal.