In Aoife Cleary v St. Patrick’s National School Lurgybrack (ADJ-00053384) the Complainant lodged several complaints with the Workplace Relations Commission (“WRC”), including a complaint of victimisation under the Employment Equality Acts. She claimed that she was victimised by the Respondent school as a result of Employment Equality Act proceedings that she had brought against a nearby school. The Respondent raised a preliminary argument in this matter that victimisation cannot arise where the proceedings in question were against another employer. The WRC’s decision on this preliminary argument is interesting and noteworthy.
Facts: The Complainant is a teacher. She brought WRC proceedings against Kilmacrennan National School in Donegal, the first hearing date of which coincided closely with an interview process in the Respondent school which was located only 15 kilometres from Kilmacrennan National School. The two schools also share a parish priest. The Complainant was unsuccessful in her application for a position in the Respondent school, but the Principal could not explain why she had not been successful. The Complainant also wrote to the Respondent school requesting marking sheets from the interview process and also questions regarding what she regarded as irregularities and improper procedures during the interview process. She also asked for confirmation as to whether or not there had been communications between the two schools regarding her WRC complaint against Kilmacrennan National School. The Complainant did not receive answers to her questions.
The Complainant was subsequently offered the role due to another candidate obtaining alternative employment, and the Complainant was informed that she was the “next person on the list according to scoring, in the interview process.” Two new teachers were also appointed, but they were appointed on fixed term contracts meaning that they received holiday pay in the summer whereas the Complainant was only given work “to the end of the year” meaning that she got no holiday pay in the summer. The Complainant repeatedly sought equal pay and conditions for equal work, but to no avail.
The Complainant subsequently applied for and was interviewed again for one of three posts on the Letterkenny Supply Panel, a role which she had successfully been working in for almost two years. She was unsuccessful. The interview process for this post coincided closely with the second WRC hearing date in respect of her Employment Equality Act proceedings against Kilmacrennan National School.
The Complainant claimed that she was victimised by the Respondent in the form of discrimination during the interview process, by not appointing her on two occasions; giving her inferior conditions of employment; and not providing her with written terms of employment. She claimed that she was victimised because of her WRC Employment Equality Act complaint against a neighbouring school. The Respondent raised a preliminary issue claiming that victimisation could not arise because the Complainant’s WRC proceedings as a result of which she claimed to have been victimised, were against a different employer. The Respondent relied on the Labour Court decision in Public Appointments Service v Kevin Roddy [EDA1019] in support of its position. In that case, the Labour Court held that the complainant’s victimisation claim was “unsustainable in law”, finding that there was no “causal link” between the complainant’s proceedings against another employer and his non-selection by the respondent for a job with the respondent.
Decision: The Adjudicator, Shay Henry, referred to section 74(2)(b) of the Employment Equality Act 1998 which defines victimisation as follows:
“(2) For the purposes of this Part victimisation occurs where dismissal or other adverse treatment of an employee by his or her employer occurs as a reaction to – (b) any proceedings by a complainant”
He noted that the Act is silent on whether or not victimisation must relate to acts of the organisation against whom the proceedings were taken. He found that the Act does not restrict victimisation proceedings in the way that the Respondent claimed that it did, stating that:
“If the authors of the Act had wished to confine victimisation to actions resulting from proceedings between an employee and the employer against whom proceedings were taken they would have said so explicitly in the Act.”
The Adjudicator noted that in the Roddy case referred to above, there was no connection between the two employers which were not even located in the same jurisdiction.
The Adjudicator was satisfied that as the two employers in this case were national schools located in close proximity and under the same patronage, it was possible that there could be a causal connection. He therefore rejected the Respondent’s preliminary argument.
Takeaway for Employers: While the Complainant was ultimately unsuccessful in her victimisation complaint against the Respondent, the decision is noteworthy in making it clear that victimisation complaints under section 74(2)(b) are not necessarily confined to the same employer. This means that, for example, victimisation could occur between two sister companies. What is clear, however, is that there must be a causal connection and victimisation complaints will not be sustainable in law where the two entities are in no way connected. It will be interesting to see how this reasoning is applied in future cases.
Link: https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2025/july/adj-00053384.html
Author – Jenny Wakely
31st July 2025
Anne O’Connell Solicitors
19-22 Lower Baggot Street
Dublin 2.
If you found this article useful you might like our employment law newsletter. We write monthly articles, like this, covering interesting cases, decisions, news and developments in Ireland.