The Workplace Relations Commission found the Health Service Executive discriminated against Marie Kinsella on disability grounds by failing to adequately consider reasonable accommodation. It ordered the HSE to pay her €8,000 redress in a decision dated 28 June 2023.
Kinsella worked as an Intermediate Care Operative from 2013 until she resigned in November 2021. An occupational health assessment found her unfit for her usual job but able to do modified work that avoided heavy lifting and managing aggressive patients. She sought other roles, including work on the Covid car service and a logistics role in Kilkenny. The HSE denied the discrimination claim.
The adjudicator found that the assessment covered only Kinsella’s usual job and had no planned follow-up. The HSE did not assess her suitability for the Covid car or Kilkenny roles, although the Covid car service continued elsewhere. Reasonable accommodation means considering practical changes or suitable alternative work to help an employee with a disability remain in employment. Kinsella’s complaints of discriminatory dismissal and dismissal for opposing discrimination were withdrawn.