WRC Awards Employee €20,000 for Penalisation due to Applying for Parental Leave

Paulette Leonard v The Board of Management Farnham NS- ADJ-00033826 concerned two complaints of penalisation under the Parental Leave Act 1998 heard by the Workplace Relations Commission (“WRC”). The first complaint was about the handling of the Complainant’s request for Parental Leave and the second complaint was that the Complainant was penalised in her interview for the post of Deputy Principal due to her exercising her rights under the Parental Leave Act.

Facts: The Complainant had been a Primary School teacher for 28 years. In June 2020, she had requested six separate periods of Parental Leave, some of which was to occur in  the coming September and October 2020. At the time of her application, the Respondent did not have a policy in place for Parental Leave.

 The Respondent denied her application for the Parental Leave in September and October stating that: “due to the worldwide Covid pandemic and the fact that children will have been off school nearly 6 months at the time of their return, children will need stability. Consequently, the Board of Management agreed that no discretionary leave will be granted for September/October. All other weeks of leave post Halloween will be considered in October.”

The Complainant sent further correspondence to the Respondent in relation to her taking Parental Leave in 2020/2021 school year. The Respondent communicated its decision to the Complainant on 1^st July 2020 that her requested dates were not able to be granted as a named substitute teacher was unavailable. However, it granted other dates close to the requested dates but on condition that the Complainant surrender statutory leave that she would otherwise be entitled to during that school year. The INTO engaged in correspondence with the Chairperson of the Respondent on behalf of the Complainant objecting to the conditions and not granting the Complainant’s requested dates.

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