The Labour Court has refused Gail Dempsey’s appeal to extend the deadline for bringing an age discrimination complaint against Sungard Consulting Services (Ireland) Limited. In its determination dated 29 June 2017, the Court affirmed the refusal of an extension; the merits of her discrimination complaint were not decided.
Dempsey said SunGard forced her to retire at 65 and that earlier disputes with managers influenced the decision. She also believed her retirement was intended to exclude her from a redundancy payment after the company’s Irish operations closed. SunGard said retirement at 65 followed her employment contract, that it notified her in January 2015, and that the decision predated discussions about closure and severance payments.
Her employment ended on 19 June 2015, and she filed her complaint on 11 January 2016, 23 days after the six-month time limit. The Court found that she had deliberately decided not to complain at first, changed her mind in December 2015 and still had time to file before the deadline. It concluded that nothing prevented her from filing in time and that she had not established reasonable cause for an extension.