A FORMER worker with a Co Meath bedding company has been awarded €16,000 compensation after an Employment Appeals Tribunal found she had been selected for redundancy because she was pregnant.
Machine operator Ludmilla Ambrasiene of Oldcastle was handed a letter saying she was being made redundant in May 2008, a year after she began working for Briody Bedding of Ballinride, Oldcastle.
“This was the first indication that she was given that her position might be in jeopardy,” according to a determination from the tribunal yesterday.
The tribunal said it was satisfied that she was “selected as a candidate for redundancy based wholly or mainly on her pregnancy.
“It automatically follows that the dismissal was unfair,” the determination stated.
Ms Ambrasiene had informed the company of her pregnancy in February and applied for maternity leave towards the end of April.
As a result of falling sales, the tribunal says around February of March 2008 it was decided to make 16 workers redundant in Briody and associated companies out of a total of 106 employees. Six of the 55 jobs in the Briody bed-making plant were to be made redundant.
The company told the tribunal that the overall ability of the employees, combined with last-in, first-out, were the criteria used to select candidates for redundancy.
Ms Ambrasiene said she had been selected because of her pregnancy. Another woman with less service was kept on.
The company said the woman was more skilled than Ms Ambrasiene and “pregnant ladies could not work the machine involved”.