[article] Irish Rail ordered to pay worker €190,000

[Mark Gleeson]

Originally Posted by Sunday Independent

Irish Rail ordered to pay worker €190,000
Senior manager suspended after employee discrimination claims

By MAEVE SHEEHAN
Sunday December 06 2009
IRISH RAIL has been ordered to pay a record €190,000 to a former employee who claimed she was discriminated against and victimised by the State company.

The amount paid out is believed to be the highest ever sum awarded by the Equality Tribunal.

The case was heard by the tribunal in private.

A judgment on the case, which is due to be published later this week, is expected to criticise key figures within Irish Rail, including a number in positions of senior management. One senior manager is understood to have been suspended from his post last Thursday.

An Irish Rail spokesman refused to comment on any aspect of the Equality Tribunal findings saying that the matters were still confidential at this stage.

He confirmed, however, that a senior manager has now "stood aside" from his role while pending an investigation into the handling of a personnel issue.

The events that precipitated the individual's temporary removal from his post at the company are disputed.

It is understood that the individual is challenging the reasons given for his suspension and is expected to mount a staunch defence.

The Equality Tribunal finding is the latest controversy to beset Irish Rail. Last month, CIE chairman John Lynch and other senior managers at the company were questioned about a damning consultants' report, which disclosed procurement fraud and malpractice at Irish Rail that was estimated to have cost the State public transport company almost €2.5m over four years.

The findings of the Baker Tilly report were leaked to the Sunday Independent and led to Mr Lynch and other managers appearing before an Oireachtas Committee.

The Garda fraud unit was called in by Irish Rail to investigate alleged financial irregularities involving bogus invoices. However, at the Oireachtas Committee hearings last month, Mr Lynch denied claims that there were widespread irregularities at Irish Rail.

- MAEVE SHEEHAN

Sunday Independent

http://www.independent.ie/national-n...0-1965695.html

[Devious Diesel]

Shocking! The current administration are incompetent and wasteful. I believe the manager in question has been shafted from within. I wonder why???