Equality act forces employers to act fairly
According to a recent report in the Irish Sunday Business Post on Disability and Mobility in Ireland, there has been an increase in compensation levels where discrimination cases have been successfully proven of late.
Jacqueline Kelly an employment lawyer with A&L Goodbody, stated that, “employers are not required to recruit someone not capable of doing the job”. “A disabled person is regarded as fully capable if, with the provision of appropriate measures by the employer, they are made capable”. This counts as long as such measures do not impose a disproportionate burden on the employer. The measures that an employer are expected to take include adapting the business premises to the individuals needs, examining working time patterns, distribution of tasks, or the provision of training or integration resources. A tribunal exists which looks at factors such as the ability of an organization to fund the changes necessary to facilitate employment of a disabled person. An important factor here is that the employer had to prove that it sought public funding for making any changes or provisions before deciding that the appropriate measures were too expensive. There have been a number of compensation cases to victims of discrimination of late, where it had been proven that the employers had not done their duties in reasonably accommodating the people in question. These cases highlight the need for Irish employers to step up to the mark, and fully inform themselves of the rights of disabled people and their obligations to facilitating integration in the work place.
Source: The Sunday Business Post, January 27 2008
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