Labour Court awards €7,500 in disability discrimination case against garden centre

The Labour Court found that A Garden Centre discriminated against a trainee horticultural mechanic on grounds of disability and ordered it to pay him €7,500 compensation. The determination was dated 12 November 2002. The worker said he was dismissed by telephone after the employer learned of his disability. The employer cited incidents it said raised safety concerns, but acknowledged it had not discussed them with him and said it would not have hired him had it known of his disability. The Court found no evidence that he could not do the job and said the employer had not tried to establish the nature of his disability or discuss the matter with him before dismissing him.