A deli assistant with multiple sclerosis has won €4,000 in compensation after resigning from her part-time job when her manager could not guarantee her a reduction in working hours.
The worker secured the award on foot of a ruling on her complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 in a wholly anonymised decision published by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
The unidentified employer, noted to be "a retail business located in a seaside resort" in the decision, was found to have failed to provide the worker with reasonable accommodation for her disability.
The tribunal rejected a second complaint by the worker alleging constructive dismissal in breach of the Unfair Dismissals Act 1977, following her resignation after seven years at the business in September 2024.
The worker told a hearing in July this year that she "had to leave" because her employer would not agree to roster her for four-hour shifts.
She said that while she had been able to do "some eight-hour shifts" in the past, she was no longer able to work more than four hours due to "exhaustion".
The worker said that upon asking her employer to only roster her for four-hour shifts, he replied: "No". The employer told her others were "worse off" than her, and asked her for a letter of resignation, she said.
The employer told the tribunal he "never refused" the worker a four-hour shift, but only told her that he "couldn't guarantee it" and told her he needed "some flexibility".
"The company could not have given a 100% commitment to the complainant to only work four-hour shifts but were more than willing to support [that] when possible," he said.
The employer said the worker looked for a meeting with him on 20 September last year and asked him to cut her hours to two four-hour shifts a week.
"I explained to the complainant that the company could not guarantee her to only work four-hour shifts, as the winter months were approaching, but the company would continue as it had done in the past and facilitate four-hour shifts whenever possible," he stated.
"After I explained everything… she responded by saying: "That is fine. I will have to resign"m and went on to ask that she be taken off the roster for the following week, the employer told the WRC.
"I reluctantly accepted the complainant’s resignation," he explained, adding that he sought a letter of resignation in writing but never got one.
Adjudication officer Gaye Cunningham wrote that the worker was expected to "at least put her grievance in writing" to her employer if he was to resolve it.
She rejected the constructive dismissal claim on the basis that the business had no opportunity to resolve the matter locally.
On the equality claim, Ms Cunningham concluded that the worker had requested special measures or reasonable accommodation to allow her to continue to work, and that the employer "refused to provide her with any guarantees".
Noting the employer's evidence, Ms Cunningham wrote: "Presumably there was an economic argument in relation to having to provide reasonable accommodation. However, there was no financial information provided to demonstrate a clear financial burden on the respondent."
She ruled that the failure to provide the worker with reasonable accommodation to work short shifts was "discriminatory on the grounds of disability".
Upholding the disability discrimination case, Ms Cunningham directed the employer to pay the complainant €4,000 in compensation.
