The Workplace Relations Commission found that Victoria Torneria-Fuentes’s complaint against Brown Thomas Arnotts Limited was not well founded. The decision, dated 22 March 2023, concerned an alleged refusal to accommodate her disability at the retailer’s Limerick store.
Torneria-Fuentes said she and her mother were refused entry on 5 October 2021 while trying to collect an online order because they were not wearing face coverings. She said she could not wear one, wore a sunflower lanyard and asked staff to bring the order to the entrance.
The company denied discrimination. It said customers unable to wear a face covering could arrange a shopping appointment or use other collection options.
The adjudication officer accepted that Torneria-Fuentes had disabilities covered by the Equal Status Acts. But the officer found the company had not been told the nature of those disabilities at the time and that the evidence did not establish less favourable treatment or a failure to provide reasonable accommodation. Reasonable accommodation means steps to allow a person with a disability to access a service.
The Equal Status complaint was therefore not well founded, meaning the WRC found the evidence did not prove discrimination or a failure to accommodate.