The Labour Court dismissed Brandon House Hotel’s appeal and upheld a €10,000 compensation award to Joanna Barska for sex discrimination, along with the finding that she was entitled to equal pay. The determination was signed on 24 February 2014.
Barska and a male colleague did like work, but he received higher pay after the hotel agreed to the rate he sought. The Court found the hotel’s pay-setting process opaque and subjective and said it had not rebutted the inference of discrimination. The equal-pay finding included arrears, though no arrears figure is given in the supplied facts.
The appeal also concerned the hotel’s decision to promote the colleague without giving Barska an opportunity to apply. She had longer service and more supervisory experience, and the hotel had no objective promotion criteria. The Court found the hotel had not shown that gender played no part in excluding her from consideration. The hotel said the colleague was the better candidate. A separate victimisation finding was not appealed.