Dublin caf

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The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) heard that Vedrana Miskic had endured a chaotic work environment during her short time at Cake Caf

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A cafe manager whose former employer belittled her accent by referring to her as “Sofia Vergara” has won €3,500 in compensation for discriminatory harassment.

It was one of two employment rights breaches upheld against Aspenvale Ltd, operator of The Cake Cafe in Pleasants Place, Dublin 8, on foot of complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) by its former manager, Vedrana Miskic.

The complainant told the WRC she started the job just after a new owner, Giulio Takacs, took over the business in about April 2025.

She said Takacs had the view that the existing staff weren’t “suitable”. However, she disagreed, arguing the new owner was “making life uncomfortable” as they felt they were “being monitored”.

Miskic said that on April 28th that year, three days after she started, a female member of staff had quit, referring to alleged “racist and sexist remarks made by Mr Takacs” and taking issue with a change in payroll dates.

In addition, Miskic said Takacs made fun of her accent by referring to her as Sofia Vergara, in reference to the Colombian-born actor.

Takacs denied making racist remarks or discriminatory comments concerning members of the LGBT community or black people, adjudication officer Catherine Byrne recorded in her decision.

Further difficulty arose when the worker who had quit at the end of April came to the premises on May 17th, 2025, in an “upset” state, asking about her wages.

Miskic said Takacs accused her of failing to tell the former employee her wages were not due to be paid until the end of May, on the basis the cafe had switched to a monthly payroll schedule.

The complainant herself said she was being paid her wages fortnightly at the time and had been unable to explain to the former employee “why she wasn’t paid at the same time as everyone else”.

Takacs said Miskic raised her voice to him on May 17th and told him: “If you want me to leave, I’ll leave.” She called in sick the following day, he said.

Takacs said he met Miskic again onMay 21st, 2025, when he said Miskic said she would take a case to the WRC.

He argued Miskic had resigned verbally on May 17th, but if she had not done that, trust had broken down by then, and he was entitled to dismiss her on the 21^st.

Miskic maintained she had been sacked for opposing discrimination.

In a decision published today, Byrne wrote: “I found the complainant to be a credible witness, and I regret to say that I found that Mr Takacs was less so.

“The complainant worked hard and did her absolute best to manage the owner’s chaotic approach to the business and his cavalier attitude,” Byrne added.

Byrne wrote that Takacs’s “use of AI” in the papers he had filed with the WRC “leads me to suspect that the complainant was correct when she said that he manipulated WhatsApp messages and correspondence to delete comments that he didn’t like”.

She found Miskic was dismissed on May 21st, noting that Takacs had issued a termination letter giving one month’s notice from that date.

There was no evidence Takacs “made remarks about not hiring black people”, but he “did not deny” referring to Miskic as Sofia Vergara.

She concluded Takacs’s comments amounted to “belittling of the complainant’s accent” by comparing her to Vergara.

“It is my view that the complainant has established that, on the basic facts, her accent was ridiculed and that, on this basis, she was harassed,” Byrne wrote.

The harassment was in breach of the Employment Equality Act 1998, Ms Byrne found, awarding Miskic four weeks’ wages, €3,762, in compensation.

Byrne also awarded a further four weeks’ pay after ruling Aspenvale Ltd had breached the Terms of Employment (Information) Act 1994 by failing to give Miskic a written statement of her job conditions within five days of starting.

The total sum awarded in the case was €7,524.