Pregnant Employee Who Was Dismissed Awarded €136,200 in WRC

Raquel Vieira Dos Santos Silva v Eteam Workforce Limited (ADJ-00051855) is a decision of the Workplace Relations Commission (“WRC”) in a case under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015 (the “Acts”). It concerned an employee who alleged she was dismissed from her employment because she was pregnant.

Facts: The Complainant was employed by the Respondent as a Category Sourcing Consultant from 12th December 2022 until 29th February 2024. She was issued with a contract of employment in November 2022, which did not contain an end date.

In July 2023 the Complainant informed the Respondent that she was pregnant, following which emails were exchanged regarding her due date and estimated start of her maternity leave. The Complainant was presented with a contract addendum ten days later, purporting to extend her contract from the end of December 2023 until the end of February 2024, the month she was due to commence maternity leave. The Complainant initially refused to sign this addendum as it was the Complainant’s position that she was employed on a full-time permanent basis since her start date, and she told the WRC that there was never any mention of her role being fixed-term in nature. The Complainant submitted to the WRC that she eventually signed this addendum under duress, as she was told that she would receive no income for January and February 2024 if she did not sign it. The Complainant’s employment was terminated on 29th February 2024 while she was on maternity leave.

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