The Labour Court has dismissed Michelle Spellissy’s appeal against the Legal Aid Board, finding no link between her alleged penalisation and her protected disclosures. The Court signed its decision on 5 January 2026.
Spellissy said she was penalised for raising concerns about staffing and service delivery, a noisy fan and a filing cabinet that gave her an electric shock. She identified a half-day pay deduction, a disciplinary referral and a performance review comment. The Board said these followed an unauthorised absence for an exam, after she did not apply for the requested half-day annual leave.
The Court found the measures would not have occurred if Spellissy had applied for the leave and found no causal link to her disclosures. A separate, unappealed process had found the pay deduction unlawful; this appeal concerned whether it was protected-disclosure penalisation.