ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Reference: ADJ-00032958
Parties:
| Complainant | Respondent |
Parties | Marie Vaughan | Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. |
Representatives | Self-represented | Kevin Bell BL, instructed by Ahern Rudden Quigley Solicitors |
Complaint:
Act | Complaint Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000 | CA-00043686-001 | 21/04/2021 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 04/10/2022
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Lefre de Burgh
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 25 of the Equal Status Act 2000, following the referral of the complaint to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint. All evidence was given under oath. The parties were given the opportunity to cross-examine each other’s evidence as part of the hearing.
Background:
This case relates to an incident in a shopping centre (‘CastleWest Cork Shopping Centre’) in Co. Cork on 22/02/2021 and is a duplicate filing of ADJ-00032957 arising out of the same incident but is as against a second Respondent.
The Complainant, who was not wearing a face mask, entered the shopping centre.
She alleges that the events which followed constitute discrimination on grounds of disability, by the Respondent.
The Centre Manager, Mr. Doherty who interacted with the Complainant is an employee of B.S.C. Management Ltd. (the Respondent company in ADJ-00032597), not Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. (the Respondent company in the case herein ADJ-00032598). Both cases were heard together.
Both Respondents deny all claims (ADJ-00032597 and ADJ-00032598).
The Respondent in the instant case (ADJ-00032598) submits that this claim has been filed as against an incorrect Respondent as the Centre Manager, Mr. Doherty was/is at all times an employee of B.S.C. Management Ltd., and therefore the vicarious liability provision under s. 42 of the Equal Status Act 2000 applies to B.S.C. Management Ltd. (ADJ-00032597), not to Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. (ADJ-00032598). |
Summary of Complainant’s Case:
Ms. Vaughan represented herself and gave evidence under oath. On the 22/02/2021, the Complainant entered the shopping centre and used the bathroom. Upon exit from the bathroom, she was approached by Mr. Doherty, the Centre Manager (employee of B.S.C. Management Ltd.) who she said told that she could not use the centre without a mask. She said that she told him: ‘No, I’m exempt.’ What followed was an interaction set out at length in ADJ-00032957. At the adjudication hearing, the Complainant made reference to a variety of symptoms and entered a GP’s letter into evidence, which preceded the incident which is the subject matter of these two sets of proceedings, and which showed that some medical tests had been ordered for the Complainant, by her GP. The Complainant sought to enter various other letters subsequent to the date of the incident into evidence, which the Adjudication Officer refused, at the hearing. No evidence of any exemption was provided to Mr. Doherty, at the date of the incident. None was provided at the adjudication hearing either. No evidence of any disability at the date of the incident was produced. It is the Complainant’s case that she was discriminated against, by the Respondent on grounds of disability, in contravention of the Equal Status Act 2000. |
Summary of Respondent’s Case:
Kevin Bell BL represented both Respondents - B.S.C. Management Ltd. (ADJ-00032597), and Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. (ADJ-00032598).
Both Respondents deny all claims.
In the instant case, this Respondent, Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd., submits that this claim (ADJ-00032598) is as against an incorrect Respondent as the Centre Manager, Mr. Doherty who interacted with the Complainant was/is at all times an employee of B.S.C. Management Ltd., and therefore the vicarious liability provision under s. 42 of the Equal Status Act 2000 applies to B.S.C. Management Ltd. (ADJ-00032597), and not to Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. (ADJ-00032598).
The only interaction this Respondent had with the Complainant was after the fact, by email, and purely informational in nature. |
Findings and Conclusions:
For clarity, the subject matter of this complaint is the incident on 22/02/2021. I find that as Mr. Doherty who interacted with the Complainant was/is at all times an employee of B.S.C. Management Ltd., that therefore the vicarious liability provision under s. 42 of the Equal Status Act 2000 applies to B.S.C. Management Ltd. (ADJ-00032597), and not to Bannon Commercial Property Consultants Ltd. (ADJ-00032598). |
Decision:
Section 25 of the Equal Status Acts, 2000 – 2015 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under section 27 of that Act.
For the reason set out above, and in accordance with s. 25(4) of the Equal Status Acts, 2000 to 2015, I find that the Complainant was not discriminated against by the Respondent on grounds of disability contrary to section 3 of the Equal Status Acts, 2000-2015 |
Dated: 14th December 2022
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Lefre de Burgh
Key Words:
Face mask; Disability; Equal Status; Incorrect Respondent; Duplicate; |