The Workplace Relations Commission has ordered a restaurant to pay a female employee €30,000 after she was sacked within weeks of telling her bosses she was pregnant.
Gordon Deegan of the Irish Times reports that the manager of a seafood restaurant was told she had lost her job because “business is business” and to enjoy her maternity. The woman was six months pregnant at the time.
The woman told the Workplace Relations Commission that she was pregnant when she began working at the restaurant in March 2015 and informed the restaurant owners two months later after an ultrasound confirmed a healthy pregnancy.
She told the hearing that there was a change in atmosphere after she told her bosses about her pregnancy and was sacked without prior warning within five weeks.
The Commission also heard that the woman became breathless, upset, and burst into tears upon hearing the news. She stated that she was shaking and unable to drive home after the incident.
The woman’s employer stated that the dismissal was performance-related during her probation period and did not relate to her pregnancy. However the ex-employee told the hearing that she not been subject to any disciplinary procedures and no previous meetings suggesting a decision to dismiss her had taken place.
The WRC’s adjudication officer, Aideen Collard, ruled that the employer failed to rebut the prima facie case made by the worker that she was dismissed because of her pregnancy.
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