The Labour Court found Bausch Health Ireland Limited discriminated against John Murphy on the age ground and awarded him €2,000 compensation. The determination, dated 4 April 2025, overturned an adjudication officer’s decision that his complaint was not well-founded.
Murphy, a general operative at the company’s Waterford contact lens plant, had asked for a further one-year fixed-term contract after his post-retirement contract. The company refused. The Court found younger employees’ fixed-term contracts had sometimes been renewed, while the company gave no meaningful explanation for refusing Murphy’s request. It concluded that the company had not rebutted the inference that it treated him less favourably because of his age.