A CASE brought by 248 women who are assistant directors of public nursing, who claimed they were being paid less than men in a comparable grade, has failed in the Equality Tribunal.
The women, who were represented by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, brought a case against the HSE claiming that they performed “like work” to 80 workers who are assistant directors of mental health nursing. They claimed they were paid less than them on gender grounds.
The Equality Tribunal determined that, while the gender breakdown of the complainants’ grade was 100 per cent female, the other grade was not predominantly male.
The tribunal found that, since 2003, there had been a roughly 50:50 gender breakdown in the mental health grade and that an argument that this grade was “predominantly male” did not stand.
The 248 complainants contended that, when the pay and grading structures were decided in 1995/1996, staff in the grade was composed of two-thirds men and one-third women.
However, equality officer Tara Coogan noted that while “there is an argument that this tribunal ought to be in a position to tackle historic discrimination, I do not find that I have the jurisdiction to do so. I find that, while it is clear that the parties may have had a legitimate case in the late 1990s, time and events have rendered the issues of this proceeding moot.”
The tribunal found that the 248 complainants had failed to establish a prima facie case and that the complaints taken on gender grounds failed.