A primary schoolteacher who was passed over for a temporary post has been awarded more than €42,000 for discrimination on the basis of gender after a tribunal ruling that the principal had a “predisposition” towards a male candidate.
The claimant, Aoife Cleary, was awarded the sum by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) under the Employment Equality Act.
The complaint was lodged against Kilmacrennan National School near Letterkenny, Co Donegal, where she was a substitute teacher up to the end of the school term in 2022.
Barrister Patricia McCallum, instructed by Donough Cleary of Cleary & Co Solicitors for Ms Cleary, told the tribunal her client was treated differently when she tried to secure a new contract for the new term – arguing this was “either because of her age, gender or religion”.
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The school wholly denied discrimination on any basis, and the WRC ruled neither age nor religion were at the root of the treatment, only gender.
Ms Cleary told the WRC she had been subjected to remarks from her colleagues alluding to the fact that her husband was a Protestant and her children attended a Church of Ireland school.
“It was said to me by [two colleagues] together, joking, that: ‘Mrs Wilkin you’d be better served up in Trentagh selling tray bakes’,” she said, in reference to a nearby school under the Church of Ireland’s patronage.
Ms Cleary said Kilmacrennan’s former principal, John Devenney, told her on June 10th, 2022, that he was appointing a colleague of the complainant to one of two vacancies, but would not fill the other post until July or August that year.
She said another substitute teacher at the school – Mr B – told her the same day that he had been “given fifth class” for the coming academic term. She said it was her belief that Mr B was reappointed without interview.
After she raised the matter with the chairman of the school board, local priest Fr Paddy Dunne, the complainant said the principal told her at a further meeting on June 14th, 2022: “Listen, you may take it that your last day at school is Friday.”
She said that when she spoke again with Fr Dunne that evening, he said: “You’ve been talking to the staff and the union, haven’t you?”
“I said, yes, they are my friends and I thought it was my right to speak to my union to get advice about this. He then went, in a raised voice: ‘Aoife, you’ve jumped the gun. You can’t force John’s hand.’ I think he meant that I should be quiet and not ask questions ... I was so shocked I was crying on the phone,” Ms Cleary said.
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On the last day of term, Ms Cleary said she encountered Mr Devenney as she left and said: “I hope I’ll see you in September and have the opportunity to apply.”
“He turned around, grinned at me and said: ‘You never know, you just never know,’ and laughed,” she said.
When Mr B testified, he said he had asked Mr Devenney on June 10th, 2022, about the prospect of work the following September.
Mr Devenney’s reply was: “Yes, there should be something in September”, but that he was not sure, Mr B told the tribunal – adding that the principal said he would let him know before school finished.
The principal said in his evidence that he “was not sure” he told Mr B there would be “work there” for him and that he “never intended” telling him there was a job for him. However, he said he was “not disagreeing” with Mr B’s evidence.
