The Workplace Relations Commission awarded Gediminas Gvazdauskas €13,000 after finding that the Health Service Executive indirectly discriminated against him in recruitment for a driver/porter role. The decision, dated 11 December 2025, also orders the HSE to review its selection criteria for driver roles and report the review outcome to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission within six months.
Gvazdauskas, a Lithuanian national with a Lithuanian driving licence, had succeeded in an open competition for the permanent public-sector post. The HSE required an NDLS driver’s statement that he could not obtain because he held a foreign licence. He provided licensing-authority documents confirming no penalty points or licence issues, but the HSE did not accept them as substitutes and withdrew the job offer. The HSE denied discrimination, saying the statement was required for the driving role and that it had extended deadlines.
The WRC found that the requirement placed non-Irish nationals at a disadvantage. It said the HSE had not shown that insisting on the statement was appropriate and necessary when alternative licensing documents were available. The officer cited the significant effect on Gvazdauskas’s career progression after he was barred from a permanent role he had won through open competition.