A creche worker who said she was told \u201cYou stupid f***ing b**ch, I told you I don\u2019t have the hours\u201d when she asked to return from maternity leave has been awarded \u20ac15,000 in compensation by the Workplace Relations Commission.<\/p>\n
Niamh Moloney\u2019s discrimination complaint under the Employment Equality Act against Little Treasures Creche & Playschool Limited, trading as Little Treasures Creche & Playschool, was upheld in a decision published by the WRC this morning.<\/p>\n
The company had claimed that Ms Moloney “did not turn up for work” when initially offered part time hours and later full time hours. However, the WRC found that the complainant was offered a combination of relief work and cleaning duties unlike her role prior to maternity leave.<\/p>\n
Ms Moloney said in evidence to a hearing last month that she had worked 38 to 40 hours per week prior to going on maternity leave on 9 January 2020.<\/p>\n
She had ought a written assurance before taking maternity leave that she would be allowed to go back to her job in the toddler room.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past the roles of colleagues were changed after they came back from maternity leave,\u201d she told the WRC.<\/p>\n
She looked to go back on 22 July 2020 and met a company director, Anita O\u2019Dwyer, in her office and discussed the matter with her, she said.<\/p>\n
Ms O\u2019Dwyer told her the company had \u201cno work for her at that time\u201d and that \u201call hours for employees would be reduced as a result of the pandemic\u201d, Ms Moloney said.<\/p>\n
The complainant said she was told she could go back to work from early September 2020 from 9am to 3pm, five days a week. She said she agreed reduced hours for the first three weeks at her own request as her daughter was starting a new school and that after that she would go back full time.<\/p>\n
In August 2020, Ms Moloney texted Ms O\u2019Dwyer to confirm the exact date she was to go back to work, she said.<\/p>\n
The response came when Ms O\u2019Dwyer phoned her and said: \u201cYou stupid fucking bitch, I told you I don\u2019t have the hours,\u201d Ms Moloney said.<\/p>\n
Instead she was offered a \u201cdiscretionary relief position\u201d from Tuesdays to Thursdays and work as a cleaner on Mondays and Fridays, Ms Moloney said.<\/p>\n
The complainant said she had been promised her previous position back when it became available \u2013 but that she wasn\u2019t put back on the roster until she put a complaint in to the Workplace Relations Commission in October 2020.<\/p>\n
In January 2021, Ms Moloney said she went to look for a reference. She said Ms O\u2019Dwyer told her she would have to resign first, so she resigned.<\/p>\n
Ms Moloney said that Monday 1 February, Ms O\u2019Dwyer called to her home at 10pm, when she and her children were in bed, and \u201cdemanded that a date be placed on the letter of resignation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Ms Moloney told her she \u201ccould not deal with her at that hour of the night\u201d and that she later gave a dated letter to Ms O\u2019Dwyer\u2019s husband when he called over.<\/p>\n
The complainant said she was promised a good reference but that \u201cas it turned out she got two bad references\u201d.<\/p>\n
She managed to secure new work and started in March 2021 in another creche.<\/p>\n
The creche operator said it reopened its doors after lockdown on 20 July 2020 and that it took weeks to \u201csettle the children after being at home for so long\u201d.<\/p>\n
Its position was that it was \u201cvery reluctant to move staff from rooms after their hard work in settling the children in\u201d.<\/p>\n
The complainant had chosen not to attend a Covid course on 15 July, it said.<\/p>\n
The company said it was in contact with Ms Moloney \u201cnumerous times\u201d in September 2020 about returning to work.<\/p>\n
The creche manager sent out four weekly rosters listing Ms Moloney\u2019s hours between 30 October and 20 November 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no response and the complainant did not turn up for work. The complainant was offered part time hours initially as she requested and she did not return to work,\u201d the company said. \u201cShe said she was not happy with that, then she was offered fulltime hours as she requested and she still did not return to work,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
In his decision, published this morning, adjudicating officer Brieffni O\u2019Neill noted that WhatsApp messages from the creche offering Ms Moloney part-time work in September and October were \u201cparticularly forthcoming\u201d after Ms Moloney\u2019s solicitor wrote to her employer on 10 September.<\/p>\n
The combination of relief work and cleaning duties was unlike her role prior to maternity leave, in spite of the fact the worker who had covered her leave was now working full-time in a childcare role, Mr O\u2019Neill wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fully accept the complainant\u2019s evidence on this matter and, having given careful consideration to same, I am satisfied that this amounts, prima facie, to discrimination on the gender and family status grounds,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Neill did not accept the suggestion that other staff had to be kept on full-time because the children were \u201cused to them\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the complainant\u2019s direct evidence was \u201ccompelling\u201d and that it was backed up by the correspondence between the parties in September and October.<\/p>\n
He found Ms Moloney was treated less favourably than another employe who was not on maternity leave and that she had therefore been discriminated against on the grounds of gender and family status.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Neill awarded \u20ac15,000 in compensation.<\/p>\n
Parallel complaints under the Parental Leave Act and the Maternity Protection Act were withdrawn as duplicates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A creche worker who said she was told \u201cYou stupid f***ing b**ch, I told you I don\u2019t have the hours\u201d when she asked to return from maternity leave has been awarded \u20ac15,000 in compensation by the Workplace Relations Commission.<\/p>\n
Niamh Moloney\u2019s discrimination complaint under the Employment Equality Act against Little Treasures Creche & Playschool Limited, trading as Little Treasures Creche & <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":32629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n