€20k for man with epilepsy due to discrimination

A transport company has been ordered to pay a man with epilepsy €20,480 after finding that it discriminated against him when retiring him on medical grounds.

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has made the award in spite of the company arguing that the man twice concealed his disability from his employer.

The company stated that the man “lied on two occasions in relation to his disability”.

The firm argued “when it suited him he denied he had such a disability and now he wants to use his disability to force inappropriate financial compensation from the company”.

However, the WRC found the man was dismissed from his employment for reasons connected with his capacity to perform the job due to his disability.

The man was employed as a gatekeeper by the company from November 4, 2004, to October 11, 2016.

The prescribed medication the man takes had controlled the symptoms of his condition to such a degree that he has not suffered an epileptic fit since 2001. When he began employment, he did not declare that he had a pre-existing disability.

In January 2015, the man was certified as unfit to work, due to a health matter unrelated to his disability.

During that absence he told the company medical officer of his condition and the medication he was taking. He was declared fit to resume work by his own medical practitioner but was not allowed to return by the firm. The company stated that he was immediately taken down from his safety-critical role. The CMO outlined the prohibition on people with epilepsy.

An extensive trawl was conducted by the firm to try and find a suitable non-safety-critical role for the man, including assessment for a clerical role for which the man did not reach the required standard.