A woman who was fired from the bar and restaurant where she worked in Cavan town and victimised after she became pregnant last year has been awarded €17,500 in compensation.
The Workplace Relations Commission ruled that the company which operates the Imperial bar and restaurant on Main Street, Cavan had discriminated against and victimised Leeanne Moore contrary to the Employment Equality Act 1998.
The WRC also claimed that a “retro-fitting” by Ms Moore’s manager of a rationale for terminating her employment by suggesting she was a sexual predator was “at best, spurious and unworthy".
Solicitor for the complainant, Setanta Landers, claimed the treatment of Ms Moore by her employer was unlawful, and her dismissal was discriminatory because it was linked to her pregnancy.
Brandon Taverns Limited, which runs the Imperial, emphatically rejected the allegation that Ms Moore’s dismissal was due to her pregnancy and claimed it was a result of her failure to meet expectations during her probationary period.
Evidence
Evidence was provided by a manager, identified only as Ms CI, that she had decided to terminate Ms Moore’s employment after receiving a complaint on November 12th, 2023 that she had placed her hand on the buttocks of a male member of staff.
Ms CI said she had also previously received another complaint from the same staff member about Ms Moore inappropriately leaning across him.
Ms Moore said she did not remember anything of the nature of the two alleged incidents ever happening.
The WRC heard Ms Moore, who was experienced in working in the service industry, began working in the Imperial as a floor supervisor on September 21st, 2023.
The complainant said she was nervous about informing her manager on November 9th, 2023 about her pregnancy. However, she said Ms CI reacted very well to the news and told her that her job was “perfectly safe".
Allocation of tips
The WRC heard there was a dispute over the allocation of tips on November 11th, 2023 which had been overseen by Ms Moore.
Ms Moore was also informed that there had been a number of complaints about her, and she was asked if she could cope with her workload.
The WRC heard that some junior staff had complained about her “not being fully present” but Ms CI gave evidence that she believed her standard of work was fine.
Ms Moore said she was very distressed and crying as she could not believe it was an issue and questioned if it had to do with her pregnancy, which her manager denied.
She felt the incident was like “an attack” as it questioned her loyalty, trustworthiness and doubted her ability to perform her job.
Ms Moore said she resisted her employer’s suggestion that she should drop down from being a supervisor to work as a waitress – a claim disputed by the company.
She claimed she needed the job particularly because of her pregnancy as the father of her child was not going to be supportive.
Ms Moore said she contacted the Imperial on November 14th, 2023 when she found out she was not rostered for any upcoming work and was informed that she had been served her notice the previous day.
WRC adjudication officer, Penelope McGrath, said it was regrettable that Ms Moore’s employer had been non-specific about the complaints which she said could only undermine her confidence.
Ms McGrath said there was an implicit threat in telling her position would be reviewed after Christmas that she was fighting for her job. The WRC official said she had some sympathy for how humiliating it must have been for Ms Moore to admit about the father of her child not being supportive.
Ms McGrath also expressed surprise that Brandon Taverns had raised the issue of an unproven allegation of sexual misconduct in a submission to the WRC.
“It would not be unreasonable to form the view that this might not be some elaborate attempt to shore up the decisions taken in November of 2023,” she added.
Allegations
However, she also acknowledged that Ms CI had given evidence about allegations of inappropriate behaviour.
Nevertheless, Ms McGrath said Ms Moore had not been told that she had been identified as a sexual miscreant by a colleague and found guilty of the allegations and denied any opportunity to defend herself.
She also noted that Ms CI accepted that the allegation had never been investigated or even noted in an incident report.
Ms McGrath said it seemed the male employee who complained about Ms Moore had an animus toward her and had “gratuitously stretched the truth".
In her ruling, the WRC official said Ms Moore had established a prima facie case of discrimination and Brandon Taverns had failed to show her dismissal was not related to her pregnancy.
Ms McGrath said the nexus between the revelation of the pregnancy and the dismissal was “unavoidable".
She observed that there was no suggestion of Ms Moore being a bad employee before she had told her employer about her pregnancy.
Ms McGrath ordered the company to pay €17,500 to Ms Moore, which she said was not only to compensate her but to dissuade it from discriminatory acts in the future.
She also awarded Ms Moore an additional €500 over the company’s failure to be given a copy of her terms of employment.
