Labour Court says maternity protection complaint was out of time

The Labour Court found Svetlana Grodzicka’s complaint under the Maternity Protection Acts was brought outside the six-month time limit and that no reasonable cause justified extending it. It varied the Adjudication Officer’s decision and lacked jurisdiction to decide the substantive case; the merits were not decided. The determination was dated 2 May 2023. Ms Grodzicka appealed after an Adjudication Officer found her complaint not well founded. She said the relevant events occurred later or that there was reasonable cause for the delay. The Court found she knew on 1 April 2020 that her employment had ended with effect from 11 March 2020. The respondent did not attend the appeal hearing.