This article looks at three recent employment equality cases concerning alleged victimisation of employees by employers in response to complaints of discrimination, where the initial decision of the Equality Tribunal was appealed to the Labour Court.


1. Introduction

Protection for employees from victimisation or penalisation by employers for exercising rights under employment legislation is somewhat uneven in Ireland. Some of the more recent pieces of legislation - for example the working time, part time work and fixed term work Acts - all provide for specific protection against penalisation. The Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005 similarly prohibits the penalisation of an employee who has raised a health and safety concern at work. Penalisation is generally defined to include