A Turkish worker has said she was discriminated against and made to feel like “rubbish” when her bosses at the Beshoffs fish-and-chips chain refused the annual leave she sought for her own wedding.
The employee, Zerha Fidan, has accused Beshoff Brothers’s operating company Glendalon Ltd of giving European Union nationals better pay, preferential shift allocations and priority for annual leave, in breach of the Employment Equality Act 1998.
She told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) she could not quit her job as a counter assistant at its restaurant in Clontarf, Dublin 3, even after being denied leave for the wedding, because her residency entitlements in Ireland were tied to her employment.
Her lawyers argue she was discriminated against on the grounds of race, in breach of the Employment Equality Act – a claim being disputed by the restaurant group at the WRC.
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Fidan started work at Beshoffs in November 2022, shortly after arriving in Ireland, and worked at various locations before being deployed at its Clontarf restaurant, she told the WRC last week.
Fidan’s evidence was that when the national minimum wage was raised to €12.70 at the start of 2024, she was kept on this rate until August that year, despite two colleagues – both EU nationals – at the shop getting a higher hourly rate.
She said the higher hourly pay for the other two workers was “hidden from me” and only disclosed “accidentally” by one of the women.
The business’s position was that one of the other workers was a supervisor, while the other performed the duties of a supervisor. However, Fidan said both were doing the same job as she was.
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Fidan said she approached her manager in November 2024 after becoming engaged and asked for time off in September the following year. His response then, she said, was “Oh, you didn’t invite me.”
She wrote to her manager in February 2025 seeking four weeks off that September – a fortnight as annual leave and a fortnight as unpaid leave, she said.
There was no answer from the manager at that point, and she then wrote to the business’s general manager, Bridget Starbuck, asking about leave for September that year, she said.
Asked how she felt when Starbuck gave no reply, she said: “Rubbish. Who am I, of course?”
She said that having sought a day off for the sixth anniversary of her father’s death in March 2025, the roster was set so that she was required to work for 10 days straight.
This, she said, was “a punishment” for “talking about my salary, my wedding, and I wanted one Saturday off – you know, I am asking every day, every time”.
She said that after the 10-day run of shifts, she suffered a panic attack at work.
Fidan’s doctor placed her on medical leave after that, and suggested in June 2025 that the complainant could go back to work if there were reduced hours, flexibility on start and finish times, and a “calm” working environment, the hearing was told.
Starbuck had replied to the medical letter saying the business could not accommodate Fidan’s return to work on that basis “due to the nature of the role”.
The hearing was told a complaint was filed with the WRC after that.
The case stands adjourned and is not expected to resume before the new year.
