This case concerned a claim of discrimination on the gender and family status grounds. The Court had to primarily deal with whether they could hear the substantive claim as the complainant had not referred her complaint within the statutory six-month time limit. The complainant had referred her complaint 10 months after the most recent discriminatory event. She tried to claim that there had been reasonable cause for this delay as she had experienced medical complications during her pregnancy and she was unaware of the statutory period. In addition, she claimed that the cumulative effect of her educational status and lack of awareness of the relevant period should be considered as amounting to reasonable cause for the delay.

The Court stated that an objective test must be applied in determining if there is a good reason to extend the statutory complaint time. The Court held that the complainant had failed to establish a link between the difficulties during her pregnancy and the delay in lodging her complaint, therefore her claim failed. The Court further stressed that ignorance of one’s legal rights cannot provide a justifiable excuse for failing to bring a claim on time.

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/Cases/2017/May/EDA1713.html