Dublin Bus has been ordered to pay a passenger €7,500 compensation after a driver is alleged to have subjected the man to anti-gay slurs.
In the case, the gay passenger alleged that the bus driver called him a “faggot”, “queer” and “schizo” on different occasions in 2017 and 2018.
Dublin Bus denied that those terms were used and told the hearing that the bus driver has made a formal complaint to the Garda concerning the passenger’s behaviour and is awaiting the outcome of that complaint.
Dublin Bus stated that the passenger had 75,000 followers on his Instagram account and one of the videos posted online was of the driver finishing his shift at Talbot Street while the passenger stood on the pavement, shouting commentary about the driver to passers-by and intending passengers.
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Dublin Bus said the driver felt threatened by the passenger videoing of him and went on sick leave for three months.
However, Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudication officer, Roger McGrath found that the terms by the driver, as alleged, were used and that the bus passenger was subjected to harassment on the grounds of sexual orientation in contravention of the Equal Status Act.
Mr McGrath found that “from the evidence adduced, particularly in the terms used by the driver, I am satisfied that the alleged discrimination and harassment was because of the complainant’s sexual orientation”.
Mr McGrath said: “I also find that he was refused service on several occasions when the bus driver refused him access to his bus or drove by the complainant denying him access to the bus.”
Dublin Bus was vicariously liable for the driver’s discrimination, Mr McGrath added. He said that although the employer did attempt to resolve the conflict between the driver and the complainant “it was too little, too late”.
The passenger alleged that on December 4th 2017 he attempted to board a Dublin Bus service at Connolly Station and was refused entry by the driver who said to him “I had an issue with you before so don’t let it happen again”.
The passenger alleged that the driver told him that he would contact the Garda about him and called him a “faggot” when he was disembarking the bus.
Dublin Bus denied that anti-gay slurs were used but did say that relations between the driver and passenger became confrontational.
Dublin Bus alleged that around November-December 2017 the complainant, who was a regular passenger on a specific route, was repeatedly paying the wrong fare for the journeys he was taking.
Dublin Bus alleged that prior to Christmas 2017, the passenger began to photograph and film the driver and began to post commentary in relation to him in which he described him as “homophobic” and as “a bully”.
Dublin Bus submitted that other incidents occurred outside work hours and the driver found the whole experience unnerving and it affected his health.
The company contended that what occurred was a situation where a driver challenged a passenger about whether he was paying the correct fare “which provoked a grossly exaggerated reaction of outrage”. Once the argument escalated it was a very uneven dispute, Dublin Bus said, with the driver powerless to take any action to prevent the social media commentary made about him by the passenger.
In a statement issued through his legal representatives, O’Hanrahan D’Alton Lally Solicitors, the complainant said he was hugely disappointed “that I was forced to take this course of action” but “very happy with the outcome”.
He said what occurred “had a huge impact on my life and my mental health”.
A spokeswoman for Dublin Bus said it noted the WRC outcome.
