WRC awards Stephanie Farnan €8,000 in disability discrimination case

The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Stephanie Farnan €8,000 after finding that Co. Wexford Community Workshop (Enniscorthy) Clg discriminated against her by failing to provide reasonable accommodation during recruitment. The decision was dated 29 June 2023. Farnan applied for a Community Support Worker/Care Assistant role, was placed fifth on a panel and later had her application discontinued. The organisation said it had made no formal job offer and that recruitment depended on references and clearances. It ended the application after receiving a reference reporting 306 days of absence from her previous job. The WRC found the organisation knew the absences were connected to disability but ended the application without investigating their causes or considering whether Farnan could do the job with accommodation. Reasonable accommodation means practical steps that enable a person with a disability to access or carry out work, where those steps are reasonable for the employer.