The Workplace Relations Commission found that a barber shop discriminated on disability grounds after refusing a 13-year-old boy a haircut, and ordered €2,000 compensation. Adjudication Officer Patsy Doyle dated the decision 7 July 2017.
The boy’s mother said the barber refused to cut his hair because he was in a wheelchair. The barber said the child was upset and moving his head, and that he had tried to cut his hair before asking him to leave. The adjudicator preferred the mother’s evidence and found the refusal was direct discrimination.
The WRC also recommended that the respondent take an approved course in Irish equality legislation before undertaking another business.