€18k award for pregnant worker told to ‘look happy’

A SHOP-owner who reprimanded a pregnant employee about her appearance and that she needed to look better and appear happy has been ordered to pay €18,000 in a pregnancy discrimination case.

This follows the Labour Court finding that Kildare town-based Clelands Supermarkets Ltd pay Karolina Poslajko €12,000 for gender discrimination and an additional €6,000 for victimisation. The case came before the Labour Court after Clelands appealed a ruling by an Equality Officer who found Ms Poslajko was discriminated against.

However, the retailer will be ruing its decision to appeal after the Labour Court not only upheld the ruling by the Equality Officer but tripled the official’s €6,000 award to €18,000 and also found Ms Poslajko was victimised against.

In her evidence, Ms Poslajko said that her second pregnancy was confirmed in August 2014 and she advised her supervisor at Clelands and left a GP’s letter in the office confirming this.

Later that month, the owner of the business, Mr Cleland, called Ms Poslajko to his office and reprimanded her for allegedly making mistakes and advised that she would have to work harder. At the time, Ms Poslajko told the Labour Court, she was suffering from morning sickness and was often uncomfortable sitting at the check-out.

A number of weeks after that, Mr Cleland again called Ms Poslajko into the office and informed her that her weekly hours were to be cut from 39 to 24 because she was, in his view, not working as hard as other colleagues.

Ms Poslajko said Mr Cleland also reprimanded her about her appearance and said she needed to look better and appear happy.

Mr Cleland told the court he never had sight of the GP’s letter confirming the pregnancy. The court found it was not credible for him to claim he was unaware of her pregnancy for some months after August 2014.