Lidl ordered to pay compensation after demanding autistic boy's dog leave store

The woman said she had a similar experience in the same store in 2018 and complained to the retailer’s head office at the time and received a letter of apology and an assurance that staff would be educated so it would not happen again.

Lidl Ireland has been ordered to pay €8,000 compensation to a mother of an autistic boy who was left distressed by repeated demands that the boy’s assistance dog be removed from a store.

At the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), adjudicator Marguerite Buckley ordered the German retailer to pay the un-named mother for discrimination under the Equal Status Act “as well as the distress suffered by her son”.

The incident took place at the Nangor Rd store in Dublin on April 29, 2022. The mother told the WRC hearing that her son uses a service dog provided to him by charity, ‘My Canine Companion’. The Labradoodle/Retriever wears a hi-viz green jacket with a handle for the boy when necessary, depending on his needs.

The mother told the hearing that on entering the store, she was approached by a security guard and told no dogs were allowed. She told the security guard that the dog was a service dog and had full access rights to the store.

She said the store manager then asked her to leave with the dog and that dogs were not allowed. The mother again pointed out that this was a service dog that had full access rights.

She said that she found his tone condescending and it upset her, and she felt her son was getting agitated by the interaction.

The mother said she told the store manager that her son has special needs and pointed to the jacket on the dog and read out what it said. She said she would not leave and invited them to call the gardaí,  saying it was a disgrace that both security and management did not know the rights of people with assistance dogs.

The woman said that she asked him if he would ask a blind person with a guide dog to leave.

The mother continued her shopping and reassured her son they had the right to be in the store and hugged him as required.

The mother told the WRC that she found the entire interaction very disgraceful and distressing. She said her son still remembers the incident and it had a negative effect on him.

Second incident for store

The woman said she had a similar experience in the same store in 2018 and complained to the retailer’s head office at the time and received a letter of apology and an assurance that staff would be educated so it would not happen again. A €50 donation was made to the Canine Companion charity at the time.

Ms Buckley found that the fact that the complainant stood her ground and refused to leave the Lidl Ireland premises does not lessen the treatment she received from Lidl Ireland’s store manager or security guard.

She noted that from CCTV evidence the interaction with the store manager lasted a minute and a half.

"That is quite a long time for an interaction to check if a dog was an assistance dog."

Ms Buckley found that while the disability may not have been immediately apparent to Lidl Ireland, its servants or agents, “I find on the facts that the assistance dog was wearing a Hi-Viz vest and signage and had a special harness that identified it was an assistance dog and was easily distinguishable from other dogs”.

In its submission denying discrimination, Lidl Ireland said it is accepted that the behaviour of the store manager was far from the standard expected by its employees or agents.

It said in mitigation it noted that neither the store manager nor the third-party security guard removed the assistance dog from the store.

The retailer also said that although the interactions were regrettable and poor errors of judgement, it did not prevent the mother from completing her shopping.

Lidl Ireland said it was not unreasonable nor discriminatory for its staff to take reasonable steps to engage with customers to establish the bona fide is for the presence of an assistance animal in store.

It reiterated that it was not discriminatory in its actions, and its efforts to assist customers on the autism spectrum should be taken into account.