Pub pays €5k to sandwich board man in racism dispute

A WELL-known Temple Bar pub has been ordered to pay €5,000 to a Brazilian ‘sandwich board man’ for racially discrimination.

The Labour Court has found that the Merchant’s Arch Restaurant racially discriminated against Alex Guerrero when it refused to accept a medical certificate stating that he was fit to return to work.

In a strongly worded decision awarding Felix Guerrero €5,000, the Labour Court stated ‘discrimination on the grounds of race is a very serious infringement of the law and cannot be treated lightly’.

Mr Guerrero made several claims against the Merchant’s Arch – which is located opposite the Ha’Penny Bridge – and has been awarded €10,650 in total.

Mr Guerrero’s main duty was holding an advertising sign on the public street inviting passers-by into the Merchant’s Arch.

On April 13, 2016, he collapsed at his home and was brought to the A&E at Mater Misercordiae Hospital.

His boss at the Merchant’s Arch told him that before he came back to work, he required a medical certificate to say that he was fit to work.

On April 20, Mr Guerrero presented a medical cert from a senior registrar doctor in emergency medicine at the Mater, Dr Andrew Ngaditiono.

However, according to Mr Guerrero’s evidence at the Labour Court, his boss ‘refused to allow him to return to work until he got a certificate from a proper doctor’.

Mr Guerrero did not return to work at the Merchant’s Arch and has since obtained alternative employment.

The Labour Court determined that the evidence put forward by the employer ‘lacks credibility and is not consistent with the documents adduced in evidence’. The court found that Mr Guerrero was discriminated against ‘simply because of his national origin. That is unacceptable. No mitigating explanation was offered by the respondent.’

A request has been made to the Merchant’s Arch for comment.