UCC wins eight-year legal battle

UNIVERSITY College Cork has emerged victorious from an eight-year battle with security staff seeking equal pay with female workers in a case which could have cost almost €2 million.

The case was brought by SIPTU in 1998 on behalf of 42 security staff, most of them men, who claimed to have been discriminated against on the grounds of sex when their wages were compared to two female job-sharing switchboard operators at the college.

Their submission was supported in a 1999 Equality Tribunal decision, but the college unsuccessfully appealed its ruling to the Labour Court and then the High Court. However, the Supreme Court backed UCC’s claim against the original ruling on a point of law last year and the Labour Court re-heard the original appeal last June.