Dorin Dusa’s disability discrimination claim over masks dismissed

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Dorin Dusa’s disability discrimination claim against Heatons Unlimited Company was dismissed by the Workplace Relations Commission after a hearing on 10 March 2022.

The complaint arose from a mask policy at a Heatons store in a Dublin retail park on 28 August 2020. Dusa said a security guard challenged him for entering without a face covering, while the adjudication officer found he had not told the guard he had a disability that exempted him.

The adjudication officer found that the guard eventually let Dusa enter the shop and that he was not denied access to its goods or services.

Dusa tried to submit medical evidence for the adjudication officer to consider without allowing Heatons to see or test it. The officer declined to consider that material, finding it inappropriate to rely on evidence the respondent could not challenge.

The officer concluded that Dusa had not established facts from which disability discrimination could be inferred. The complaint was dismissed; the decision was dated 17 June 2022.