Cork engineering firm ordered to pay diabetic fitter €5.4k over discriminatory dismissal

The dismissal followed an induction meeting where the worker was "forceful" in his interventions concerning a colleague who was coughing and sneezing and not wearing a face mask

It was found that MSL Engineering discriminated against a worker on the grounds of his disability and a discriminatory ‘non-starting of work’ under the Employment Equality Act. File photo

A Cork engineering firm contracted to work for Covid-19 vaccine maker, Pfizer, has been ordered to pay a diabetic man €5,400 compensation after allegedly not allowing him to start work at Pfizer’s Cork site due to his condition.

In the case, Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) Adjudicator, Michael McEntee, has ordered MSL Engineering to pay Warren Sweeney €5,400 compensation.

Mr McEntee has ordered the compensation payment after finding that MSL Engineering discriminated against Mr Sweeney on the grounds of his disability and a discriminatory ‘non-starting of work’ under the Employment Equality Act.

A mechanical fitter, Mr Sweeney was offered a six- to eight-week placement by MSL Engineering in July 2020 at a Pfizer site in Cork. The rate of pay was €900 for a proposed 39-hour week and on July 13 Mr Sweeney attended the site to commence work for MSL Engineering which provides engineering support work to Pfizer.

Car park dismissal

After an induction meeting on site, the MSL Engineering workers returned to their cars to collect their safety boots. Mr Sweeney alleged that it was here that the MSL Engineering site manager told him that he would not be starting work as he was a diabetic.

This was after the site manager had instructed other MSL Engineering workers to return to the Pfizer plant. The MSL Engineering Site Manager allegedly explained that he had a duty of care to staff and he was not going to allow a diabetic onto the Pfizer site.

Mr Sweeney stated that he protested that being a diabetic was not an issue and Covid-19 regulations did not prevent diabetics from working and he was simply being completely discriminated against. Mr Sweeney told the WRC hearing that being a diabetic is a recognised disability and the law expected that he would be treated fairly.

The car park exchange followed an induction meeting where Mr Sweeney was "forceful" in his interventions concerning a colleague who was coughing and sneezing and not wearing a face mask.

Mr Sweeney asked him publicly in the meeting to show “respect to his fellow workers” and at the very least put on a mask or cover his mouth. The worker reacted negatively to this and some words were exchanged. The MSL Engineering site manager did not change his mind concerning the instruction to go off-site and Mr Sweeney went home.

Mr Sweeney stated that he was at the loss of some eight weeks' wages and was also at the loss of the money he had paid for rented accommodation in Cork.

A 'good fit'

In response, MSL Engineering stated that there was no question of any MSL discriminatory policy against diabetics — there were many other diabetics on the Pfizer site including some senior managers.

The MSL Engineering site manager told the WRC that the Pfizer contract was a major company contract and his responsibility was to ensure that all MSL-sourced contractors were a “good fit” for the Pfizer site.

The MSL site manager said that following his initial meeting with Mr Sweeney and verbal reports from his fellow managers, especially regarding the incidents at the induction meeting, he had come to the view that Mr Sweeney would not be a “good fit” for Pfizer.

On this basis, the MSL Engineering site manager had decided not to proceed with Mr Sweeney. He was aware from the medical questionnaire that Mr Sweeney was a diabetic, but this had nothing to do with it.

As a responsible experienced Site Contracting Manager, he argued that he had made a decision regarding the overall unsuitability of Mr Sweeney for employment on the site.

WRC findings

In his findings, Mr McEntee found that if Mr Sweeney had not been a diabetic the balance of probability indicates he would have been employed by MSL Engineering at the Pfizer site.

Mr McEntee stated that the MSL Engineering site manager “may have acted for the very best motives in the midst of a Covid crisis, but his actions cannot escape the conclusion that a discriminatory act took place”.

Mr McEntee said that taking the reports from the car park of the exchanges between the parties, all under Oath, diabetes was mentioned as a reason for a non-start of work. As a result, Mr McEntee concluded that Mr Sweeney “was discriminated against because of his Disability”.

Mr McEntee stated that both the MSL site manager and Mr Sweeney “were very capable and excellent witnesses”.

He found that on the balance of probability, it was hard not to see the evidence pointing to the site manager at the very least referring to Mr Sweeney's diabetes as a reason for non-allowing him to start.

Mr McEntee stated that there was certainly an element in the evidence that the MSL Engineering Site Manager did not need the “headache” of a forceful diabetic on-site querying the Covid safety rules.

Mr McEntee concluded that the question was really one of whether or not Mr Sweeney was not a “good fit” because he was a forceful employee at the Induction meeting or simply because he was a diabetic.

He said: “A reasonable observer might ask was the disability used as a convenient means of addressing the first issue?” Mr McEntee stated: “On balance and from listening to all the oral testimony, the demeanour of the witnesses and conscious of the burden of proof requirements in an Employment Equality case the evidence has to sway in the complainant’s favour.” 

The most recent accounts for the Ringaskiddy Business Park-based MSL Engineering Ltd show that it recorded pre-tax profits of €3m in the 12 months to the end of January 2021 after revenues increased by 17% to €51.34m. The firm employed 141 at the end of January 2021.