Employee Awarded €60,000 for Discriminatory Dismissal and Failure to Provide Reasonable Accommodation

In the case of Marie O’Reilly v Chadwicks Group (ADJ-00044696), the Complainant brought a successful case under the Employment Equality Acts 1998-2015 (“the Acts”) on the basis that she was discriminatorily dismissed on the ground of disability and the Respondent had failed to fulfil its obligations in relation to providing reasonable accommodation for her disability.

Preliminary Issue: The Adjudicator, Valerie Murtagh, was asked to consider a number of preliminary issues at the outset of the hearing including:

Time limit – The Complainant lodged her complaint on 6^th March 2023 meaning the cognizable period for the claim was 7^th September 2022 – 6^th March 2023.   The Respondent stated that the date of dismissal was outside the cognizable period being August 2022.   However the Adjudicator agreed with the Complainant that the receipt of the Appeal Outcome on the 7^th September 2022 brought her claim within the cognizable period and she had jurisdiction to hear the case.

Facts: The Complainant submitted that she began employment with the Respondent in 1979 at the age of 17, with a six year gap from 1993 – 1999.  In 2018 she was promoted to credit controller which was a desk based job.  In total, she submitted she had provided 37 years of service to the Respondent at the time of her dismissal.

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