Solicitor with long-Covid awarded compensation of €5k over discrimination

A solicitor who was awarded €5,000 compensation after an employment law firm was found to have discriminated against him has said he feels vindicated.

Oisín Gourley was suffering from long-Covid and depression when he was dismissed after a probationary period at Mason Hayes and Curran LLP.

Workplace Relations Commission adjudication officer Marie Flynn ordered the law firm to review its policy on accommodating staff with disabilities and to provide training on the policy to all managers.

She found it failed to consider whether it could assist senior associate solicitor Mr G our ley with reasonable accommodation for long-Covid and depression before deciding he had failed his probation and dismissing him last year.

Mr Gourley told the Irish Independent the decision is a clear reminder of the need for employers to investigate employees’ claims of having a disability and an employer’s obligation to provide reasonable accommodation.

“Obviously, I remain dissatisfied with the respondent’s approach particularly, as they refused to engage with any reasonable accommodation or respond to my requests for documentation, facts that are reflected in the decision,” he said.

“I feel vindicated that the Workplace Relations Commission accepted that I had a disability and that my dismissal was discriminatory.”

He said he was grateful to the adjudicator for her “prompt outcome” and realised she had a difficult job to do in a complex area of law.

“While I was pleased I succeeded in part, I am not entirely happy with the overall outcome or process,” he said.

Mr Gourley was employed as a senior associate solicitor by the law firm between March and August last year. He claimed his dismissal from the company after six months’ probation in August 2023 was linked to his disabilities.

Mr Gourley, from Belfast, argued at a hearing that he suffered significant loss due to his discriminatory dismissal by the law firm.

He said his earning capacity was significantly reduced and he has a much worse standard of living after taking a £30,000 (€34,800) reduction in wages in alternative employment.

He argued that he suffered pain, embarrassment and mental anguish as a result of discriminatory treatment and it will be extremely difficult for him to find a job with a firm of solicitors in the Republic again.

In its decision, the employment tribunal found the decision to dismiss him on the grounds of competence was taken “in the absence of any assessment of his capabilities and whether reasonable accommodation could be put in place to address his shortcomings”.

It rejected further allegations of discriminatory harassment, victimisation and dismissal made by Mr Gourley against the firm.

John Cleary, of Siptu, who represented Mr Gourley, said his client was experiencing a lot of fatigue and failing to retain or process information during his time there.

He said this left him “anxious about making mistakes and about the quality of his work” and feeling “overwhelmed”.

The law firm’s barrister, Rosemary Mallon BL, submitted that the client Mr Gourley had been hired to look after had expressed concerns about the handling of its files last June.

It held off on making a formal warning under the service level agreement as it was the first time in nine years there had been an issue, she submitted.

“The situation was not tenable,” Ms Mallon submitted, as Mr Gourley’s workload was “half” that of others on his team.

In her decision, adjudicator Ms Flynn wrote that the company had been obliged to examine Mr Gourley’s fitness for the role in line with equality law after he set out his disabilities and asked for accommodation.

However, she concluded that Mr Gourley had not suffered a discriminatory dismissal and rejected further allegations of harassment and victimisation, including in connection with a grievance process that followed his dismissal.

Moira Grassick, chief operations officer at HR firm Peninsula Ireland, said she expects more cases to be lodged in relation to long-Covid.

“Four or five years ago, none of us knew what Covid was,” she said. “Now it’s just the same as any other illness and needs to be managed in the same way as another type of illness.”

She said employers need to ensure they make “reasonable accommodation” if someone is “raising a flag” in relation to having a disability that affects their ability to do their role.

She said employers should request medical assessments through an occupational health scheme or a worker’s doctor and base their response on the report.

She added that employers must “exhaust all avenues” before they would dismiss someone.

“It can’t just be ‘computer says no’,” she said. “They must look at the alternatives that can be put in place.”