WRC orders creche to pay €3,000 after excluding toddler with nut allergy

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

The Workplace Relations Commission ordered an unidentified creche to pay €3,000 to a girl for disability discrimination after it refused to keep providing childcare following her diagnosis with a severe nut allergy. The decision found the creche failed to reasonably accommodate her disability.

The girl had attended the creche since she was 18 months old. After her parents told staff she had been diagnosed with allergies to peanuts, pistachios and cashews and needed to carry two EpiPens, an owner said the devices would not be allowed and she would have to leave. Her parents said they removed her immediately when the creche would not take charge of the EpiPens during a proposed transition period.

Adjudicator Davnet O’Driscoll accepted the creche’s safety concerns were genuine and said the parents should have shared the diagnosis in advance. But she found the creche should have discussed the medical information and possible training needs rather than refusing the EpiPens. The decision was anonymised because the complainant is a minor.