Ms Rachael Ryan:

I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to engage on the issues set out in SIPTU's submission on the review of the Equality Acts. The very practical implication, which is what the Deputy is asking about, is that if a worker has taken a case under the Employment Equality Act, he or she can lodge both an unfair dismissal claim and an employment equality claim. However, if the employment equality claim is heard and fails, unless the director general provided otherwise when the claim first went in, he or she cannot have a claim heard under the Unfair Dismissals Act.

There are equality provisions under the Constitution and there is a requirement for fair procedures and natural justice in the Unfair Dismissals Act. Under the Employment Equality Act, the burden of proof is on the worker and while he or she only has to make a prima faciecase and it then shifts to the employer, the essential outcome of this is that if a worker fails under the Employment Equality Act, he or she cannot then argue that procedurally his or her dismissal was unfair. Those very important provisions that are there are based on the Constitution and provide that employers must treat workers with respect up until the point they are dismissed.