Former jail governor fails in sexist discrimination complaint against Irish Prison Service

The ex-governor of the Midlands Prison complex, who claimed she was demoted “at the behest” of a group of male prison officers under her command, has failed in a sexist discrimination complaint.

A lawyer for Ethel Gavin, former acting campus governor of the high-security facility, alleged that the Irish Prison Service served his client’s head “on a plate” to the men after they staged a walkout in May 2018 after a series of major incidents at Portlaoise Prison.

These included a gangland criminal being allowed to phone his family before being transferred and “barrier” handling of a different prisoner being relaxed shortly before this man seriously assaulted a prison officer, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) was told.

However, the tribunal found it has no jurisdiction to rule on Ms Gavin’s alleged demotion as too much time had passed when she lodged proceedings under the Employment Equality Act 1998.

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The tribunal also rejected Ms Gavin’s claims that aspects of the State agency’s later dealings with her had also been acts of discrimination or penalisation leading to a “continuum of discrimination” which would have allowed it to extend its jurisdiction.

During a hearing in Mullingar Courthouse in April, Ms Gavin said she was removed from her acting-up position as campus governor overseeing the entire Midlands Prison complex after the walkout.

She said that rather than returning to her old job of running Portlaoise Prison, she was put in the less “prestigious” post as governor of Midlands Prison.

Ms Gavin argued that she suffered a detriment compared to a male governor who took over from her at Portlaoise, John Farrell, who she said got more notice of the changes and his “pick” of senior staff.

Regarding the prison officers involved in the walkout, Ms Gavin said: “They were never reprimanded. An agreement was made with local HR – which undermined me, by the way – that they’d be put on probation for a year, but you can’t be put on probation if you’ve completed it. Many of these staff had 20 years’ service or more.”

On Ms Gavin’s appointment to the Midlands Prison, the Irish Prison Service’s director of operations, Don Culliton, then in charge of its HR department, told the tribunal: “Issues had arisen in Portlaoise [which] required a particular response for Portlaoise, but there was no particular reason. She could as easily have been appointed to Portlaoise, but I decided Midlands.”

Ms Gavin’s legal team argued there had been a “regime” of victimisation in the agency’s dealings with Ms Gavin up to and beyond her retirement.

They accused the Irish Prison Service of denying their client access to a mediation under a particular Civil Service grievance procedure, and denying access to an investigation into her alleged demotion under the same policy.

Aoife McMahon, who appeared instructed by Chief State Solicitor’s Office, argued that Ms Gavin was “out of time” because there had been “no acts of discrimination… within the six months prior to the referral of the complaints”.

John Curran, appearing for Ms Gavin, argued that a bullying complaint made against Ms Gavin by another HR officer had been motivated by her lodging a grievance against Mr Culliton. No finding of bullying was made against Ms Gavin by an Irish Prison Service investigation, though it did conclude there had been “inappropriate behaviour” and that the HR officer had been undermined, the tribunal noted.

Ms Gavin’s legal team also accused the Irish Prison Service of issuing a “misleading press statement” used as the basis of a newspaper report stating that a retirement party had been held for Ms Gavin on March 27th, 2020, in breach of Covid-19 public health restrictions.

That claim was not addressed by adjudicator Andrew Heavey in his decision.

Mr Heavey said that as Ms Gavin’s complaint was submitted on March 23rd, 2020, he only had jurisdiction in the case for a period of six months before that date.

He said he did not accept that the bullying complaint against Ms Gavin or the other matters referred to by her legal team had constituted any further discrimination or victimisation – rejecting the continuum of discrimination argument.

“On that basis, I find that the complaint is out of time and is therefore statute barred,” he wrote.