More than a third of dismissal cases determined by the Labour Court last year were pregnancy-related, new figures published today show.
Of 13 dismissal cases in which the court reached a decision, nine were taken on gender discrimination grounds and five of these involved complainants who alleged they were dismissed because they were pregnant. In contrast, just one pregnancy-related dismissal case arose in 2001. All five such cases last year resulted in awards to the complainants, ranging from €6,000 to €15,000.
In its annual report for 2002, the court describes as "significant" the increased number of such cases, which partially account for a 19 per cent rise in the number of referrals under equality legislation.
The court also warned employers that they could fall foul of equality legislation if they did not protect workers from victimisation or harassment from customers or other third parties.
Referring to a case last year in which victimisation was claimed by two female teachers at a boys' secondary school, the court said it found the approach of a recent UK case involving racial harassment of a hotel worker "to be persuasive".
The UK case had put forward the principle that if the harassment was sufficiently under the control of the employer and could, by the application of good employment practice, have been prevented or reduced, then the employer was liable.
In the school case, the Labour Court found that "while some measures had been taken by the employer, they had been insufficient and that the employer had therefore failed in his duty to act reasonably so as to protect the claimants from further incidents of sexual harassment (from students)". The teachers were awarded €10,000 and €20,000 respectively in compensation.
A further case cited by the court for its "disturbing features" involved a complaint of dismissal on nationality grounds. The complainant, a factory worker in Co Galway, alleged that before her dismissal the owner and the factory manager made sexual advances, referring to her "illegal status".
Upholding the complaint, the court awarded compensation of €15,000. In its determination, it also expressed concern about the duty of care that was associated with the recruitment of foreign nationals to this country. The court recommended that companies employing non-nationals "recognise the difficulties which may arise and provide proper induction courses and make resources available to deal with social or cultural differences which may present".
Last year saw a 6.3 per cent increase in referrals to the court, to 940 cases. This was despite the fact that 2002 saw the least number of days lost to industrial action in more than 30 years.
Almost 81 per cent of referrals related to complaints under industrial relations legislation, 11 per cent equality (up 1 per cent from 2001), 8 per cent organisation of working time and 0.3 per cent national minimum wage.
About a quarter of industrial relations cases related to pay. The next most common types of dispute were over dismissal; local agreement procedures; allowances, bonuses and premiums; and equal treatment.
In what is his last report before retiring as chairman of the court, Mr Finbarr Flood reiterated his concern about the "revolving-door" phenomenon in industrial disputes. This arises where parties in dispute fail to acknowledge the role of the court as "court of last resort" and use it instead as a staging post in the dispute resolution process.
He said conditions under the new national pay agreement, Sustaining Progress, demanding that referrals be made with advance acceptance by the parties of the outcome, "should ensure better compliance".
The report can be downloaded at www.labourcourt.ie
