A PSYCHOTHERAPIST who was called a “little girl” by a colleague has been awarded €35,000 by the Equality Tribunal for harassment and constructive dismissal from the children’s charity, Cari.
Joanna Fortune, a psychotherapist with Cari (Children at Risk in Ireland), said she was humiliated in front of clients, denied promotion, and forced to leave her job because of discrimination on the grounds of her age.
Ms Fortune told the tribunal that soon after starting work for Cari, an older colleague began to question her experience. The colleague, who is not named by the tribunal, undermined Ms Fortune during meetings with parents and referred to her a little girl, she claimed.
Ms Fortune, who was aged in her 20s at the time, made a complaint to her employers, but this was not successfully resolved.
Ms Fortune subsequently applied for the position as head of therapy, but said that her colleague canvassed against her getting the job because of her age.
The tribunal found that Ms Fortune had been humiliated and harassed by her colleague and that the charity’s attempts to resolve the matter were “haphazard” and inadequate. Ms Fortune resigned after two years of this harassment and she was in effect constructively dismissed, the tribunal found.
However, it did not find that she was denied promotion on the grounds of age, as the person appointed to the head of therapy was sufficiently qualified.
In a separate case, Aer Lingus has been ordered to pay €1,500 to an intellectually disabled woman for failing to provide assistance to her at Dublin airport.
The woman’s sister, who represented her at the tribunal, said she had sought the use of the airline’s “meet and greet” service, because her sister could not read the signs or follow intercom announcements at the airport.
However, Aer Lingus said it no longer provided the service and directed her to another company. Her dealings by telephone with that company were unsatisfactory, and she subsequently booked a flight for her sister with another airline. The tribunal found that Aer Lingus continued to provide services to the physically disabled but not to those with an intellectual disability, and therefore had discriminated against the woman.
In another case, the Tallaght Echohas been ordered to pay €12,000 to a Canadian journalist on the grounds that it victimised him while he was employed as features editor with the paper, and victimised him by his dismissal.
Colin McGarrigle said he was harassed by a colleague who insisted that he stay to assist her after his own work was done, without regard to his family life or his physical condition, and that he was victimised by the company for taking sick leave and attending hospital appointments.
Mr McGarrigle was dismissed for gross misconduct on the grounds that he posted an advertisement for a job at the paper which did not exist.
The tribunal said it appeared Mr McGarrigle’s line manager was actively seeking an excuse to take action against him, and found that the dismissal was disproportionate.
