The WRC ordered a grocery retailer to pay a customer assistant €5,000 and let her apply for its voluntary redundancy scheme after finding that its eligibility rules discriminated against her because of her disability. The decision was dated 21 July 2017.
The customer assistant said she accepted a €24,000 redundancy package, which was withdrawn because she was on long-term sick leave. The retailer denied making a formal offer and said its sickness policy and extended-absence criteria meant she was outside the scheme.
The adjudication officer found that the customer assistant had been excluded from applying while comparable colleagues without disabilities could apply. The retailer did not justify excluding employees whose disability made a near-term return to work unlikely. The officer also found that the phone offer was not legitimate, so it did not stand.
A second complaint also succeeded. The officer found a discriminatory provision in the collective agreement and directed the retailer to change the scheme’s eligibility criteria and include that change in its agreement with the union.