Legal News (Employment Law)

In a recent decision involving a Special Needs Assistant (SNA) in a National School, who made a claim of bullying and harassment treatment against her employer, the Board of Management of St. Anne’s School, the High Court found against the employer and awarded €255,276 for damages and loss of earnings.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Bill 2014 (“IHREC”) has recently been published. The main purpose of the Bill is to merge the Human Rights Commission and Equality Authority.

The Court of Justice has held that a sales consultant’s annual leave remuneration cannot be limited to their basic salary alone where such a worker is paid a basic salary and commission calculated on the basis of sales made by them. In such circumstances, that commission must also be included in the calculation of the employees annual leave entitlement so as not to deter an employee from taking annual leave

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) issued two significant decisions on 18 March 2014 limiting employment rights for surrogate mothers.

In a recent High Court decision, (Stobart (Ireland) Driver Services Ltd -v- Carrol), Kearns J upheld a Labour Court decision to reinstate and compensate a lorry driver who had been dismissed after he complained that he was too tired to work a shift. He was reinstated to the job from the date of dismissal which included all back pay which amounted to approximately €30,000.

There has been a recent decision of the Labour Court where an agency worker made a claim for similar pay as a direct hire. Mr Robert Costello (represented by SIPTU), a forklift truck driver, was the Claimant and Team Obair Limited was the relevant employment agency who employed Mr Costello.