Lawyers for a journalist who claims that she suffered multiple rights breaches while working in a “key role” at Woman’s Way publisher Harmonia have said the case concerns the “exploitation” of women in the media industry.
Andrea Smith has accused Harmonia Ltd of breaching her rights under the Redundancy Payments Act 1967 and the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977 – along with seven other unspecified matters – in a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
Little detail of the dispute was aired at a case management hearing on Tuesday, except that Smith said she was last paid by Harmonia in December 2024.
The company, owned by well-known entrepreneur Norah Casey, told the case management hearing that Smith was not its employee, so the tribunal has no jurisdiction.
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Lauren Tennyson, for the employer, said most of Smith’s complaints were filed with the WRC more than six months after any alleged breaches and are therefore out of time and out of jurisdiction.
Smith’s barrister, Patricia McKenna, said that for the sake of justice, her client wanted a ruling on the question of employment status.
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“One way or the other, we want that to be adjudicated on, because our client was working in the magazine basically in a key role in it. She wasn’t a so-called freelance journalist,” she said.
McKenna said the case concerned the “exploitation” of women in the media industry.
“We’re saying she was definitely not on contract as a freelance,” McKenna added.
The question of whether or not some or all of the case could be decided on a preliminary basis was the subject of some legal discussion.
McKenna said there seemed to be dispute about the date of her client’s alleged dismissal and other alleged contraventions of employment rights.
Adjudication officer Kara Turner told the parties she wanted them to enter into correspondence to see what facts and dates could be agreed upon.
The adjudicator gave the parties three weeks each to make legal submissions on whether she could come to a preliminary decision on the jurisdictional arguments.
She adjourned the matter pending that decision.
McKenna was instructed by Murphy O’Grady Solicitors in the matter. Tennyson was instructed by Byrne Wallace LLP.
Turner also noted the attendance of Harmonia owner Norah Casey and her sister Carissa Casey at the hearing at Lansdowne House in Dublin on Tuesday.
