application for voluntary redundancy refused: options?

[Mpsox]

A friend of mine works for a large multi-national which is current carrying out a VR programme. She is on career break following the birth of twins.

The VR scheme was over subscribed and her application was refused on 2 grounds

• Her skill set is needed by the company
• cost/savings

In relation to the first one, her role has already been filled by another permanent member of staff and she is not due to return to work for 2 years anyway, hence the need for her skill set cannot be that urgent and as her role is now filled, she would need retraining to work elsewhere

On cost/savings, she can understand the logic of the decision but has since learnt that the vast majority of part time staff and staff on career break who applied were rejected. These staff are nearly all female

She is going through the appeal process and has her hearing on this in a months time, She has asked me to accompany her to the hearing (non unionised company) as her witness and is working up her appeal

I'm hoping someone on here can therefore assist her.

Firstly, could the decision to refuse part-time/career break staff who are virtually all female be construed as indirect discrimination?

Is anyone aware of any LRC/Labour court or other bodies decision in relation to a similer issue

Any other advice that would support her appeal would be gratefully received

 

[Mpsox]

Update on this and if someone could provide some advice based on the update below, it would be appreciated

the friend has gone through the various stages of appeal and has been refused on grounds that her skill set is required by her employer and that this is the main criteria, rather then cost.

However she is on career break until the summer of 2011 so obviously she is a bit peeved to be told that her skill set is required even though the company can't use them for another 18 months.

So here are my questions on her behalf
Can an employer legitimately turn down a VR application on grounds of skill set even though those skills won't be used for another 18 months?

If she was to appeal the decision externally, what would the process be (Rights Commissioner) and realistically, what are her chances of success?