Woman sacked due to pregnancy receives €10,000 from hotel

A LOUTH hotel has been ordered to pay a former worker €10,000 after the Equality Tribunal ruled that her dismissal was linked to her pregnancy.

The tribunal said the complainant, Mary Shelley, had established a prima facie case that she had been discriminated against on gender grounds against the Europa Hotel in Drogheda.

Ms Shelley claimed that she was advised to pack in her job or go sick after she informed the hotel management that she was pregnant in May 2003.

She was due to return to work after maternity leave in March 2004 but indicated that she was suffering from post natal depression and could not work until further notice.

The hotel decided to fire Ms Shelley in September 2004 after it claimed she had not followed procedures in notifying the hotel one month in advance about the end of her maternity leave.

However, the tribunal ruled that the hotel had made no attempt to clarify Ms Shelley’s position after she had remained absent on sick leave.

Separately, a female employee with a Limerick building supply firm who was subjected to various incidents of sexual harassment at work has also been awarded €10,000 by the Equality Tribunal.

The unidentified woman also complained that she was further victimised by the firm by being sacked after she had complained about being sexually harassed.

The young woman, who was employed as an accounts assistant, claimed her work situation began to deteriorate in January 2004, four months after she began her job with the firm.

In April 2004, she claimed the managing director, who met her out socialising, had passed a comment about her clothing which she found very upsetting.

Later that month, her boss smirked as he asked her what she was up to in the back seat of her car that the rear window of the vehicle was broken.

On another occasion, he asked her if she had seen a film which contained graphic sexual content. When she replied she had not, he remarked that she was probably up to it every night of the week. The woman told the tribunal that she found the comments by a mature married man embarrassing and degrading.

As a result of those experiences, she was ashamed and lost confidence.

Ruling in favour of the woman, the tribunal also ordered the firm to pay interest on the €10,000 award and to draft a policy to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.