Queer crèche worker ‘outed unwillingly’ by colleague wins €5,000 in discrimination case

A crèche in Ireland has been ordered to pay €5,000 (£4,400) to a former employee who was “outed unwillingly” as gay.

Ireland’s Workplace Relations Commission ruled that the former employee had been discriminated against on the basis of her sexual orientation.

The Irish Examiner reported that the commission was told she was outed by a colleague inappropriately questioning her sexual orientation.

The former employee recalled the incident, stating her colleague, identified as Ms A (the crèche and staff’s names have not been published), asked if she had a boyfriend, to which she responded she had “no interest in boyfriends”.

Her sexuality was unveiled after Ms A pressed and the woman eventually said she had “no interest in men”.

Ms A told the commission she did not believe her questioning amounted to harassment, and that she had not pressured her colleague.

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The commission heard that the incident resulted in the former employee eventually crying in the bathroom. She had previously never told anyone at her workplace about being gay, the Irish Examiner reported.

The former employee told the commission the crèche did not take proper steps to deal with the harassment. She also claimed she was further victimised for complaining to management, by being moved to a different room and having her hours reduced.

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She alleged her boss said she should have lied if she did not want others to know her sexual orientation – something the crèche manager, referred to as Ms C, denied.

In response to the allegations, the crèche argued that any changes to the former employee’s working arrangements were not due to her complaint but business needs during the “challenging period” of the COVID-19 pandemic. The crèche said her hours never went below her contracted amount.

Commission adjudication officer, Thomas O’Driscoll, who heard the case, found Ms A had not intended to humiliate or hurt the former employee. However, he said she had not been fully informed by the crèche about what constituted harassment and that the complainant’s distress had been exacerbated by witnesses to the initial conversation not intervening.

O’Driscoll ordered the crèche to pay compensation for the effects of the discrimination but did not find any basis for her victimisation claims.

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