
School denies attempting to mislead WRC using ‘false' versions of a guidance counsellor's contract
Lawyers acting for a Dublin school say it and its principal 'absolutely deny' a claim that it has attempted to 'mislead' the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by handing in 'false' versions of a guidance counsellor's employment contracts.
The allegation was made during a preliminary hearing on Friday into a complaint under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 by Mary Lynch (56) against secondary school St Dominic's College on the Navan Road in Dublin 7.
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Irish Times
26 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Ice cream parlour worker pestered for dates by colleague gets €5,000 for sexual harassment
A former employee of popular Dublin ice cream parlour Spilt Milk, who said she quit after months of sexual harassment from a colleague a decade her senior, has secured €5,000 in compensation. Leni Shanahan was awarded the compensation on foot of her complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 against LN Ice Cream Ltd, the operator of the shop on Drury Street in Dublin 2. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard that Ms Shanahan was a 21-year-old student at Trinity College Dublin when she was among the first five workers hired for the opening of the shop in March 2024, under the joint branding of Spilt Milk and Roots Acai. She told a hearing in May that, within a month of starting work together, an older colleague told her they had 'sexual chemistry', asked her out and remarked that he 'thought that sex with me would be electric'. Representing herself before the WRC, Ms Shanahan said she primarily had contact with Mr A, her alleged harasser, who was aged in his early 30s, when they were rostered to work together in the shop's basement production kitchen, where there was no CCTV. In the first week of April 2024, she said Mr A asked her to 'go out with him for a drink' in the course of what she called a 'very inappropriate conversation'. The following week, Mr A 'initiated a conversation about sexual experiences with her'. 'He stated that we had sexual chemistry and he thought that sex with me would be electric,' Ms Shanahan said. In late May of that year, Mr A 'made comments about my physical appearance and commented on my white skin, my light eyes, my hair, my lips and my body, my weight and what I wore – and continued the conversation like that, after I expressed discomfort', she said, before outlining a further series of interactions in the same vein. On her last shift before leaving to take holidays in August 2024, she said Mr A gave her a hug and asked her when she was due back, before telling her: 'I hope next time I see you, you won't be here,' before winking at her. The tribunal heard Ms Shanahan did not return to work as planned and resigned on September 10th that year before writing to her employer complaining of sexual harassment and then filing her WRC complaint. Ms Shanahan said a key factor in her decision to quit and pursue a claim at the WRC was hearing that her alleged harasser had made a remark to her boss, health food entrepreneur Dave Meehan, about becoming 'physically aroused' by her 'flirting'. She said she was told while she was away on leave that Mr Meehan had brought up the remark while talking to another employee, Mr B. 'As it was relayed to me, a comment was made [by Mr Meehan] about how [Mr A] would 'get hard' in conversations with me,' Ms Shanahan said, as she cross-examined her former employer. Mr Meehan said in evidence that, since Ms Shanahan's complaint, he had taken training in human resources. 'It's my first time having a shop in the city centre with such responsibility,' he said. 'I'd like to think for the most part I've led with love and care. I've made mistakes along the way like any other human being. Now I'm better equipped to deal with situations like this. That's all I can say – again, I've apologised, and I really do mean it,' he said. Ms Shanahan said she had 'no idea' there was a complaints process for harassment, as she was 'never shown' any policy document in that regard. She confirmed that she was not alleging sexual harassment on the part of Mr Meehan personally. Steven Murphy, another company director, said Ms Shanahan declined to be interviewed for his internal investigation. 'It was a tough situation, something I've never done before. Leni said one thing, [Mr A] said the other,' he said. There was 'no factual evidence we could find to uphold the complaint', he said, and Mr A had 'refuted' her allegations. In his decision, adjudicator Pat Brady wrote that the business could not rely on the statutory defence of having taken 'reasonable and practical steps' to prevent sexual harassment because there were 'no measures of any sort' in place. He wrote that Mr Murphy's investigation finding that Ms Shanahan's complaints did not meet the criteria of sexual harassment were 'only true if no weight is attached to [her] statements… or less weight than is attached to an alleged perpetrator's denial'. Mr Brady said it was 'unhelpful' that Ms Shanahan had declined to participate in the company probe and 'difficult to understand' why she had not complained sooner. 'These factors provide no comfort to the respondent, whose liability is not diminished, but I propose to take them into account in making my award of compensation,' he added. Upholding the claim, he awarded the worker €5,000.


Irish Independent
a day ago
- Irish Independent
School denies attempting to mislead WRC using ‘false' versions of a guidance counsellor's contract
Today at 06:44 Lawyers acting for a Dublin school say it and its principal 'absolutely deny' a claim that it has attempted to 'mislead' the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by handing in 'false' versions of a guidance counsellor's employment contracts. The allegation was made during a preliminary hearing on Friday into a complaint under the Protection of Employees (Fixed-Term Work) Act 2003 by Mary Lynch (56) against secondary school St Dominic's College on the Navan Road in Dublin 7.


Irish Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Education worker who was falsely branded 'incontinent' takes discrimination case
Management at a state education provider falsely claimed that a senior employee was incontinent and had short-term memory loss with the aim of justifying their decision to suspend him, the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has heard. Martin Kelly is pursuing complaints against Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim Education and Training Board (MSLETB) under the Employment Equality Act and the Terms of Employment (Information) Act. He had been employed at Ballina Training Centre in Mayo since 1990, and claims that he should have been made a teacher in 1999, but was instead told to sign a contract as a resource worker. Mr Kelly told an adjudication hearing of the WRC that he 'hadn't a clue what this was', but was advised that it would 'enhance and improve' this position, so he signed it. When he was approaching retirement and made enquiries about his pension entitlement, however, he discovered that there had been a 'huge difference' in the roles of teacher and resource worker. Lansdowne House, the offices of the Workplace Relations Commission in Ballsbridge, Dublin. (Image: Colin Keegan, Collins Agency, Dublin) He sought to rectify the situation and alleges that he was penalised as a result, having been placed on administrative leave for three months, which had the effect of fuelling 'rumours and conjecture'. The WRC heard that MSLETB management claimed in an email that Mr Kelly was incontinent and was suffering from short-term memory loss. These were 'outrageous untruths', according to Mr Kelly's legal representative. She alleged that these 'false matters' had been raised in an effort to provide some justification for the education provider's 'discriminatory acts of suspension' after Mr Kelly agitated for his entitlements. He told the WRC that he had taken summer holidays in June every year for 30 years but, in July 2023, received a letter from MSLETB management claiming that he had been absent without leave for the past month. Mr Kelly was subsequently asked to undergo a medical assessment. His legal representative claimed that this constituted discrimination because a younger person in his position would not have been asked to do this. He attended an appointment for medical assessment in Sligo in September 2023 but it did not go ahead because he did not know why he had been referred, and the doctor said she could not examine him if she did not know what was wrong, he told the WRC. Mr Kelly was placed on administrative leave on October 12, 2023, and underwent a medical assessment on November 16, when he was examined for 'seven or eight things', including incontinence and memory loss. He told the WRC that it was 'absolutely disgraceful' that management had alleged that he was suffering from short-term memory loss. He also recalled that the author of that email had asked him to 'drive a bus around for three days'. 'So, I find it hard to believe that he would think that I was incontinent,' he remarked. Mr Kelly said the same manager had also asked him to play football at the training centre at a time when he was 70 years old. He suggested that the manager would not have done this if he had any concerns about his health. The adjudication hearing was adjourned and will resume at a later date, when representatives of MSLETB will respond to the complaints. For the latest breaking news and top stories from the Irish Mirror, visit our homepage