EDA2445

PARTIES:

DIVISION:

SUBJECT:

Appeal of Adjudication Officer Decision No's: ADJ-00030360 (CA-00050974-001)

BACKGROUND:

The Worker appealed the decision of the WRC Adjudication Officer under Section 83 (1), Employment Equality Acts, 1998 to 2015 on 11 May 2023. A Labour Court hearing took place on 24 September 2024.

The following is the Determination of the Court.

DETERMINATION:

Background to the Appeal

This is an appeal by Ms Siobhan McNally (‘the Complainant’) from a decision of an Adjudication Officer (ADJ-00030360/CA-00050974, dated 18 April 2023) under the Employment Equality Act 1998 (‘the Act’). The Complainant’s Notice of Appeal was received in the Court on 11 May 2023. The Court heard the appeal in Dublin, along with eight other related appeals under the Act, on 24 September 2024.

The Adjudication Officer declined jurisdiction to hear the within complaint at first instance. He noted that the complaint had been received by the Workplace Relations Commission on 2 June 2022, over three years after the Complainant’s employment with the Rotunda Hospital (‘the Respondent’) had terminated on 20 May 2019 (as previously found by the Labour Court in EDA2148 (13 December 2021 and 4 July 2022) and LCR22612 (10 June 2022), and that the alleged discrimination complained of was stated by the Complainant to have occurred on 7 December 2021.

Preliminary Application to Dismiss

At the outset of the within hearing, a preliminary jurisdictional issue was raised on behalf of the Respondent. It was submitted that the within claim is not comprehended by the Act in so far as the Complainant is alleging discrimination on the disability ground in relation to conditions of employment during a period of time when she was no longer in the Respondent’s employment. The Respondent’s representative made an application to have the appeal dismissed on the basis of the foregoing.

The Complainant was afforded a number of opportunities by the Court to address the Respondent’s submission but did not avail herself of those opportunities. Instead, she complained that the decision to terminate her employment on grounds of ill-health was made by somebody who was not a medical professional and that, accordingly, she did not accept the validity of her termination. She further complained that the Respondent had not brought such a medical profession as a witness to the within hearing. She also took exception to the fact that an IBEC Executive, other than the person she had forwarded her written submissions to, appeared at the hearing to represent the Respondent. It appears that the Complainant also took exception to the fact that neither IBEC Executive is a legal professional.

Determination

The Court, guided by the findings made by other Divisions of the Court that the Complainant’s employment with the Respondent ceased on 20 May 2019, accedes to the Respondent’s submission that the within claim/appeal is not comprehended by the Act and dismisses it accordingly.

The decision of the Adjudication Officer is upheld.

The Court so determines.

	Signed on behalf of the Labour Court
	Alan Haugh
AR	______________________
30 September 2024	Deputy Chairman

NOTE

Enquiries concerning this Determination should be addressed to Aidan Ralph, Court Secretary.