This case involved an operative in a chemical manufacturing plant in Waterford. The employee claimant had a poor record of absence and had received a series of warnings. He was given a period of unpaid suspension in September 2010 and his employment was terminated with six weeks' notice in December 2010. The claimant appealed. During the appeal process, but not before, the claimant raised his alcohol dependency. The manager hearing the appeal rejected the appeal on the grounds that it was the first time alcohol abuse had been raised as an issue and that the claimant had previously turned down offers of counselling, referral to the company doctor and was aware of the employee assistance programme.
The claimant's case was that he'd had stress at work, had difficulty sleeping because of this and had started to self-medicate with alcohol. This had developed into alcohol dependency that he was too embarrassed to raise until he realised the seriousness of the situation.
The tribunal concluded that "a fundamental error was made" by the appellate manager by not taking account of the evidence of alcoholism, albeit the information did not come to light until after the decision to dismiss. The claimant was still under notice - the position could have been monitored.Â
The EAT went on to comment that, "A reasonable employer recognises that a fundamental characteristic of alcohol dependency is denial. A reasonable employer recognises that a person with such dependency will not be open about it and will not generally engage... It is the Tribunal’s opinion that, once the claimant finally accepted that he had alcohol issues and proffered this as an explanation at the appeal, an issue had thereby been raised as to whether there was alcohol dependency at such a level as constituted a disability. The employer should have made further enquiry and, indeed, offered the claimant a further opportunity to substantiate his claim that this was a significant factor in or caused his absenteeism."
The EAT awarded €10,000 compensation:
http://bit.ly/18plNDZÂ
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