Margaret Hannigan (the “Employee”) worked in the Catering department for a number of years at the HSE (the “Employer”). Due to a visual impairment condition, Occupational Health recommended that the Employee should be transferred from the kitchen area and should undergo training with the National Council for the Blind (NCBI) to identify her training and assistance needs for her redeployment to a clerical role. Shortly after assuming the clerical role, the Employee was transferred to administrative duties. Following her return from a period of sick leave from October 2016 until April 2017, the Employee was placed on a three-day, 24 hours per week, instead of her usual 70 hours a fortnight.

The Employer stated that the changes which occurred in her role arose as a result of it providing her with reasonable accommodation to accommodate her disability. It submitted that further changes, such as adapting the fire alarm panel to accommodate the Employee’s visual impairment, would have resulted in a cost of €10,000, and placed a disproportionate burden on the Employer. The Employer also submitted that it had introduced a process which resulted in the main switchboard being automated after 5.00pm, therefore her hours had been reduced in any event. Furthermore, the Employer made an offer to enhance the Employee’s earning potential, affording her incremental increases over several years but she refused this offer.

As a result of her reduction in hours, the Employee initiated proceedings in the WRC alleging that she was discriminated against due to her disability and that the Employer had failed to provide her with reasonable accommodation within the meaning of Section 16 of the Acts. In finding in favour of the Employee, the Adjudication Officer found that the Employer did not go far enough in providing reasonable accommodation and awarded the Employee €20,000 compensation; directed the Employer to reclassify the Employee as a Clerical worker and to make the necessary adjustments to the switchboard. The Employer appealed this decision to the Labour Court.

Decision of the Labour Court

In upholding the Employer’s appeal, the Labour Court noted the only example of alleged less favourable treatment cited by the Employee was the failure to increase her working hours. The Court held, while it could readily be said that the duty to provide reasonable accommodation under the Acts places an obligation on an employer to seriously consider such a request, it would be unreasonable to find that the Employer is statutorily obliged to maintain her previous level of earnings where an employee is not working full-time hours and when such work was not available. As such, the Court did not accept that the failure to increase her working hours amounted to discrimination contrary to the Acts.

Furthermore, the Court was satisfied that the Employer’s response to the Employee’s disability came within the ambit of reasonable accommodation as envisaged by Section 16 of the Acts. The Court cited the extensive attempts made by the Employer to reasonably accommodate the Employee including:

• The Occupational Health assessment which recommended alterations to the Employee’s working conditions to facilitate her and the provision of training and upskilling;
• Placing the Employee in several different roles when such roles became available, including creating a new position tailored to her capabilities;
• The Employer’s continued attempt to identify alternative places of work, which met the Employee’s capabilities to supplement her income; and
• The Employer’s offer to enhance the Employee’s earning potential, which could have placed her on a promotional salary scale, affording her incremental increases over several years, an offer which the Employee refused. The Employer stated at the hearing that this offer was still open to the Employee and that every effort would be made to assess her capabilities for extra hours, which may become available.

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2020/september/eda2013.html