A JOURNALIST who claims she was employed by Examiner Publications Ltd for up to 23 years said she had not claimed maternity leave for any of her four pregnancies, was not part of the company's pension scheme, paid her own PRSI, and did not have any formal agreement with it.
Ms Ann Mooney, from Rochestown, Co Cork, is claiming unfair dismissal against Examiner Publications Ltd. Yesterday was the third day of her hearing by the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Cork.
Examiner Publications is claiming Ms Mooney was never on the staff and was always employed on a freelance basis. The case has been adjourned until a later date.
Ms Mooney claimed she had never worked as a freelance while covering the courts for the Examiner for over three years.
She said she did not believe working for a junior Minister was in conflict with her work as a journalist as she was not a political reporter or working in the newsroom.
She worked for Mr Danny Wallace TD of Fianna Fail for about 10 months and, for about six of them, she was in conflict with the company. She also did some PR work for the Rochestown Park Hotel but this had lasted only one day.
The tribunal was told that twice Ms Mooney applied for a staff job and once took an unfair dismissals action against the company, which she settled.
She told the tribunal she claimed £6,000 for holiday pay and at the time she settled her action she received payment for holidays.
This was disputed by the company, whose solicitor, Mr Fergus Long, said she had received £2,000 as a gesture of goodwill.
Mr Long said Ms Mooney was at one stage earning some £15,000 to £20,000 a year more than a staff journalist. He said she was prepared to work shifts and sell features, work two shifts a day and charge for all of this, while staff members would have to take time off in lieu of overtime worked.
Ms Mooney said she was doing the courts during the day and doing shifts at night at the request of the news editor, and she was paid as she earned. She added that if she had been aware there was time in lieu, she would have taken it.
She had returned to work three weeks after her son was born eight years ago by Caesarean section.
Her father had died at the same time and she felt working was helpful, Ms Mooney told the Tribunal. She had been equality officer with the National Union of Journalists for many years, she said, and, when asked by Mr Long in cross examination if it had ever occurred to her to question if she was entitled to maternity leave, she said no.
When asked if this was not inconsistent with her role as equality officer with the NUJ, she said that, in retrospect, it was.