Women seeking wages from rape crisis centre face wait

Three women seeking wages they claim are owed to them by a rape crisis centre will have to wait to find out if they’re successful because the name of their employer was incorrectly stated on a decision issued by a Rights Commissioner.

The Rights Commissioner ordered in Aug 2011 that they be paid thousands of euro in annual increments by the Sexual Violence Centre in Cork.

However, a legal team representing the centre, which is appealing the decision, told an Employment Appeals Tribunal yesterday that the order was wrong because the employer was actually Cork Rape Crisis Centre and not the Sexual Violence Centre, which it is sometimes referred to as.

The tribunal had earlier heard that Josephine O’Sullivan, a counsellor, resigned from her job at the centre last September after being out for a considerable time on stress leave due to what she termed work-related anxiety.

Wendy Knott, who worked as a clerical officer, was made redundant by the centre in Nov 2009, while Catherine O’Mahony said she was still employed but had been on stress leave since Jul 2011.

At the hearing in the Vienna Woods Hotel, Glanmire, solicitor David Pearson of GJ Maloney, who is representing the centre, said the name of the women’s employer was Cork Rape Crisis Ltd and this was the “legal entity”.

He said as such the claim would have to be returned to the Rights Commissioner’s office to have this corrected before any hearing could proceed.

The appeals tribunal chairman, Kate O’Mahony, agreed the order would have to be sent back to have it properly amended and adjourned the hearing.