School to pay teacher €20k over leave dispute

A Cavan primary school teacher is to receive €20,000 in compensation after claiming there was “subconscious bias” concerning her application for parental leave when seeking the post of deputy principal.

Paulette Leonard, a primary school teacher of 28 years, was awarded the sum by Workplace Relations Commission’s (WRC) officer Shay Henry against the board of management of Farnham National School.

The complaint was made under the Parental Leave Act 1998 and the adjudication hearing took place in January of this year. A full transcript of the decision was published at the end of last month.

Ms Leonard worked as a teacher at Farnham NS since 1996 and, in June 2020, applied for six periods of parental leave in September and October that year. In an email rejecting the application, the board cited the “Covid pandemic” and need for “stability” for children returning to the classroom.

‘Consequently, no discretionary leave will be granted for September [or] October,’ it said.

Six periods of leave were approved by the school between November 2020 and May 2021 - but on condition Ms Leonard “surrender” statutory leave for that academic year, her trade union, the Irish National Teachers’ Organisation (INTO), submitted.

The INTO says it raised the issue with the school in July 2020 - following which a notice appeared in the school staff room requiring that parental leave longer than three weeks must be taken as a single block.

The union further argued that when Ms Leonard applied for the deputy principal post at the school in December 2020 that a “bias” existed against her at interview.

The school denied this, with principal Geraldine Dolan giving evidence that there was “no animosity” towards Ms Leonard.

Counsel for the school board, Claire Bruton BL, further stated that candidates each achieved “the same weighting” for performance.

The tribunal also heard evidence from Vincent Mulvey, an administrative principal from another school and independent member of the interview panel, that interactions over parental leave were raised in a preparatory meeting for the interviews for the deputy principal position. He said that “one or other” had raised the issue in relation to Ms Leonard’s previous application for parental leave.

“He understood this to be background information relevant to the candidate,” assessed Mr Henry the WRC officer, adding: “This evidence is clearly at odds with... the evidence given by the principal that the parental leave incident was in the past and formed no part of the considerations relating to the promotional post.”

Mr Henry concluded that Ms Leonard has been treated unfairly arising from her entitlements under the Parental Leave Act and ordered Farnham National School to pay her €20,000 in compensation.

However, he ruled Ms Leonard was “out of time” to pursue a discrimination claim against the school’s board because she had submitted her complaint forms too late.