Employment Law Seminars - All Events

Age Discrimination Developments: Say No To Ageism Week was launched in June by Minister of State Fergus O Dowd TD. But what is the current state of play relating to age discrimination in Ireland?

• Have we fallen behind the rest of Europe and are public and/or private employers in danger of being sued?
• Is compulsory contractual retirement still lawful and in what circumstances?
• Can costs alone justify age discrimination and what are legitimate ‘cost +’ arguments?
• How do you carry out and analyse an age audit for justification purposes?

Mary Kelleher, McCann FitzGerald provides analysis and a template age audit document

Key Equality Issues for 2012:

• Card Tricks: What can you do if you think an employee is ‘playing the race card’ by making a complaint about a colleague amounting to race discrimination? Is there any safe way in Ireland for employers to challenge employees with perceived protected social characteristics?
•  Provision, Criterion or Practice Developments in Disability: One of the most difficult areas of equality law involves establishing a prima facie case in relation to discriminatory practices that appear neutral but that have a disproportionate impact on disabled workers. How do employees and their representatives establish relevant PCPs and how might employers and their representatives counteract arguments?

Cliona Kimber BL provides the practical answers you need to know.

Equality Issues in Redundancies: One of the most fraught (and expensive) areas of equality law is avoiding liability when going through the redundancy process. How might you act fairly, yet take into account the required protections of those covered under the nine grounds of the Employment Equality Acts? When implementing redundancies, how can employers:

• Justify individual redundancies? 
• Justify the selection criteria used? and
• Justify the procedure applied?

Anne O’Connell, Senior Associate, William Fry examines case law and outlines how employers could best limit their liabilities under equality legislation during a redundancy process and best practices for employers to follow.

Social media and Equality Issues: Every week seems to bring another tale of social media wrong-doing.

• Do employers have responsibility for employee harassment via Facebook and other social media platforms?
• Can employers use information from social media sites etc to make recruitment decisions?

Solicitor, Social Media, Employment Law and Technology Law Expert Wendy Doyle explores social media and equality issues and also looks for practical lessons provided by other jurisdictions that employers might wish to consider.

Code of Practice on Sexual Harassment and Harassment at Work
A new long-overdue Code of Practice, prepared by the Equality Authority, was signed by Minister Shatter on 31 May 2012 updating the 2002 version.

• Internal claims of employee v employee compared to employee v “Client, customer or other business contact” claims – what is the difference?
• How does the code handle gender-based harassment ?
• What is the impact on the employer’s exposure, in terms of compensation, where harassment is only one of multiple allegations before the Tribunal?
• What defense is available to the employer – particularly in light of the recent Labour Court decision, EDA 1210 Limerick City Council and Mannering?
• What is not in the Code?  Are there opportunities missed?

Using a case study that evolves as the session progresses Bernadette Treanor, Managing Consultant, Beo Solutions, explores the Code of Practice and case law from both the Equality Tribunal and the Labour Court to give some practical insights.

Whatever next?
This final session presents an opportunity for employment law practitioners and HR professionals to reflect on some of the key issues and unresolved controversies in employment equality law today.

Carol Fawsitt, Partner and Head of the Employment Law Department, Hayes Solicitors, looks ahead at some of the most eagerly awaited cases pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), and analyses the potential impact on domestic employment equality law.

Key issues referred by national courts to the CJEU include:

• Is it discriminatory to treat a male employee less favourably on the grounds of the pregnancy of his partner?(Andrius Kulikaoskas v Macduff Shellfish Limited, Duncan Watt)
• Is an individual who cannot carry out his/her work due to a condition caused by a temporary or incurable illness covered by the concept of disability? (Jette Ring v Dansk almennyttigt Boligselskab DAB)
• Does a manager’s statement to the media that he would never employ a homosexual establish a prima facie case of discrimination? (Asociaţia ACCEPT v Consiliul Naţional pentru Combaterea Discriminării)

We also consider what implications, if any, the coming into force of the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights, together with the EU’s anticipated accession to the ECHR, may have on the availability of effective remedies for discriminatory treatment in the workplace.