This case concerns the dismissal of a part-time worker while she was in hospital recovering from a serious operation. The Tribunal was satisfied that the complainant was disabled, having had both a tumour and her kidney removed during the operation.

The Tribunal relied on the case of Humphries v Westwood Fitness Club to conclude that the “respondent, in the instant case [which did not attend the hearing as it had been declared insolvent], made no enquiries whatsoever in order to ascertain when or if the complainant would be in a position to return to work. Furthermore, it is the complainant's evidence, and this is undisputed, that had the respondent enquired, she would have been in a position to advise them, that she would be able to return to work after a 5 week recovery period.” Her dismissal was therefore on the ground of her disability.

Other claims by the complainant, that she had been denied an opportunity to work full-time on grounds of her disability, age and gender, were not accepted by the Tribunal as this possibility had been pre-empted by her dismissal. The Tribunal nonetheless took this loss of opportunity into account, together with the distressing and traumatic manner in which she had been dismissed, in awarding her €17,500.

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