The Equality Tribunal awarded an employee €5,000 after finding that a logistics company discriminated against him by dismissing him because of his disability. Equality Officer Tara Coogan dated the decision 6 February 2012.
The employee said his absences were linked to illness and that he sought to return part-time. The company said reliable attendance was essential to its customs-clearance work and that it followed its dismissal procedures.
Coogan found no disability discrimination in the employee’s complaint about treatment apart from his dismissal, and found no victimisation. She found that depression was a disability and that, after learning of it on 25 March 2009, the company dismissed him days later without examining whether appropriate measures could help him return to work. The officer said the €5,000 award, about two months’ gross salary, reflected that the employee had worsened the situation by not telling the company about his disability sooner.