The Labour Court increased Karolina Poslajko’s compensation to €12,000 for pregnancy discrimination and awarded her a further €6,000 for victimisation after Clelands Supermarkets Ltd appealed. The Court varied the Equality Officer’s decision in a determination dated 21 December 2017.
Poslajko said her weekly hours fell from 39 to 24 after she told the employer she was pregnant, and later to eight after she returned from maternity leave. Clelands argued that it had not known about the pregnancy before November 2014 and that her earlier contract provided for 31 hours a week.
The Court accepted that Poslajko had given the employer a letter confirming her pregnancy in August 2014. It found no documents showing a genuine disciplinary process to support the first cut in hours. The later reduction followed her return from maternity leave and her solicitor’s complaint about the earlier cut. The Court found that Clelands had not rebutted either claim.