The Civil and Public Service Union has reacted angrily to comments from the Department of Finance that compensation claims from job-sharing civil servants passed over for promotion could be equated with Army deafness claims.
On the public service claims, a Department spokeswoman said: "It's a lot like the Army deafness issue; until the unions come back to us, we can't begin to estimate the cost."
The Government could face claims for compensation from about 6,000 people in the public service, following a ruling by the European Court of Justice.
As reported in The Irish Times on Thursday, the Attorney General has advised the Government to implement the ruling from October 2nd, 1997, when the court ruling was handed down.
The CPSU, which represents most of the civil servants affected, has received legal advice that members discriminated against can make claims dating back to 1984, when job-sharing was introduced in the Civil Service.
The CPSU's general secretary, Mr Blair Horan, yesterday said he did not want to become embroiled in the Army deafness controversy, but the equality claims being made for female civil servants were based on long-standing discrimination and a denial of fundamental human rights.
"Twenty years on from the introduction of equality legislation in this State, there is still a 20 per cent pay gap between men and women, with women still concentrated in the lower-paid grade," he said. "The European Court has now ruled that job-sharers must get back the service they lost on seniority lists for promotion."
While the Attorney General may have advised the Government it was only obliged to backdate equality in this area to October, the union had different legal advice.
"The union has been advised by Dr Mary Redmond, one of the leading equality lawyers in the country, that job-sharers denied the opportunity of promotion because they lost their seniority would have claims under the equality legislation right back to 1984, when the scheme was introduced."
He said Dr Redmond presented the union's case before the court "on a similar job-sharers' claim for incremental credit". A decision is expected shortly.
"While rectifying practices and procedures to comply with equality legislation will cost the State money," Mr Horan said. "It must be paid and the individual rights of women vindicated."