A Dublin coffee shop and pub operator criticised by a State workplace watchdog for referring to some of his female employees as “girls” has been ordered to pay €35,000 for discriminating against a former social media manager over her pregnancy.
At the Labour Court, deputy chairwoman Katie Connolly ordered Martin McCaffrey’s Brazilian Coffee House Ltd, trading as Dash Container Café at the Hole in the Wall, Blackhorse Avenue, Dublin 7, to pay €35,000 to its former brand and digital marketing manager Emma Hughes for discriminating against her on grounds of her gender relating to her pregnancy and maternity leave status.
Hughes claimed that the firm’s discriminatory treatment towards her led her to resign from her post in June 2023.
Connolly stated that the court found that McCaffrey’s “reference to Ms Hughes and other female employees as ‘girls’ displayed a generally patronising attitude towards female employees”.
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Connolly stated that the court found that on the balance of probabilities, Hughes was subject to less favourable treatment on the grounds of her gender after she informed the chief executive, McCaffrey, of her pregnancy on August 2nd 2022.
Hughes had commenced working at the firm on April 4th 2022 and the court found that the less favourable treatment was part of a continuum or chain of discriminatory acts linked to Hughes’s pregnancy and maternity leave status.
Connolly stated that the court accepted Hughes’s contention that McCaffrey appeared not to be happy about her being pregnant from the outset.
McCaffrey also operates the Hole in the Wall pub beside the Phoenix Park along with several coffee shops in various locations around Dublin.
In all, McCaffrey employs 60 staff across three strands of the business: a public house, coffee shops and whiskey/gin production and sales.
In her evidence, Hughes stated that McCaffrey regularly contacted her outside of her working hours when she was pregnant.
She said that the messages were often unclear and confusing and some were sent as late as 2:07am. Hughes said she felt that she never had a break.
Connolly stated that the court found McCaffrey’s “evidence on significant matters to be vague, evasive and inconsistent at times”.
She stated that the court accepted Hughes’s undisputed evidence that McCaffrey shouted at her on several occasions.
In evidence, Hughes said that on two occasions, when she tried to engage in a conversation between a colleague and McCaffrey about DASH issues, he shouted at her, “I am not talking to you”.
McCaffrey told the hearing that he had no recollection of ever shouting at Hughes.
Connolly found McCaffrey’s failure to put plans in place for maternity leave cover, and his request that Hughes work during her absence on maternity leave, “demonstrates a dismissive attitude towards the complainant and the inconvenience he regarded her pregnancy to be”.
The case was before the Labour Court on appeal by McCaffrey’s firm after the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) made a discrimination award of €35,000 to Hughes in December 2024. The employer was unable to attend the WRC hearing due a family bereavement.
The firm denied discrimination.
Mr McCaffrey (62) accepted that he asked Hughes to work during her maternity leave.
Hughes did not return to work after her maternity leave and says that the discriminatory treatment led to her resigning on June 28th 2023.
