€95,000 for sacked pregnant worker

A MORTGAGE consultant who claimed her employer discriminated against her and dismissed her when she was pregnant, has been awarded €95,000 by the Equality Tribunal.

In a separate case, a female teacher who claimed she was sexually harassed by pupils, and was unfairly dismissed and victimised as a result of complaints she made, was awarded €75,000.

The two cases were among a list of 17 decisions published yesterday by the Equality Tribunal.

The tribunal said it had awarded €95,000 to Claire Keenan, who took a case against former employer Stephen Kehoe, trading as Mortgage Cabin.

In evidence to the tribunal Ms Keenan said she started working as a mortgage consultant for Mr Kehoe in February 2005. She said she had become pregnant and informed Mr Kehoe, and was due to go on maternity leave in July 2008.

She said another employee, referred to as Mr A, was hired early in 2008 to take on some of the workload. She claimed Mr Kehoe told her he did not want her going on maternity leave and referred to a person he knew who had returned to work after only two months. She submitted that he asked her to take a shorter maternity break and asked her to work from home while on leave.

Ms Keenan said she was subsequently told of financial difficulties by Mr Kehoe, and eventually told she was being made redundant as there was not enough work. She also claimed she had been offered a cheque for redundancy if she signed a form that the money was “in full and final settlement of all claims arising from the termination of employment”. She said she refused to sign and did not receive the cheque.

In his written submissions, Mr Kehoe, who was not present for the hearing, said he had never asked about shorter maternity leave. He submitted that Ms Keenan had asked him if she could work from home and that he told her she was not to do so as Mr A was to provide the cover while she was away.

The tribunal found in favour of Ms Keenan in respect of discrimination and made the award of €95,000 based on 12 months’ remuneration.

In a separate case the tribunal said its award of €75,000 to a female secondary school teacher was on the basis of victimisation by her employers. Neither the teacher nor the school was named in papers published by the tribunal yesterday.

The teacher claimed she was sexually harassed by pupils and was victimised by the respondent by being dismissed and otherwise adversely treated as a reaction to her complaints.

The school told the tribunal the complainant made unsubstantiated allegations against a number of pupils. On June 5th, 2008, the board of the school decided not to offer the complainant a contract of employment for the following school year after hearing a report from the principal.