Pay inequity at Garda stations, say women

FOURTEEN women employed as civilian clerical officers in Garda stations are claiming gender discrimination because they are paid less than gardaí doing the same work, the High Court heard yesterday.

In what is a test case for hundreds of other women employed in this capacity, they are appealing a Labour Court decision which found they were not entitled to equal pay.

They claim the court had erred in law by finding that, while there may have been a presumption of indirect discrimination, it was not unlawful because it had been proved that there was an objective justification for not treating them equally.