Intellectually disabled woman wins €15,000 discrimination award

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

An unnamed woman with an intellectual disability won €15,000 after the Workplace Relations Commission found that a supermarket retailer discriminated against her on disability grounds; the decision was reported on 12 April 2023.

The ruling concerned an incident on 18 November 2021, when a security guard stopped her from entering the supermarket after mistaking her for a shoplifter. The retailer was not named.

The adjudicator accepted that the refusal was based on mistaken identity. He found the security manager had relied on her appearance without asking her name, and that her disability prevented her from challenging his assumption at the time.

The WRC found that the retailer had discriminated against her under the Equal Status Act and ordered €15,000 in compensation. The mistaken-identity explanation was not given to her until shortly before the hearing, and the retailer had not apologised.