Iarnr≤d ╔ireann has made a financial settlement with a deaf job applicant who claimed discrimination on disability grounds after he was refused a position for failing a pre-employment medical.
Mr Tom Shanahan accepted an undisclosed sum from the rail company in the case taken by the Equality Authority in one of the first claims made under the Employment Equality Act 1998.
In agreeing the settlement, Iarnr≤d ╔ireann accepted that Mr Shanahan's skills were fine for the job he sought and that his hearing difficulty was the chief reason for his refusal. A spokesman for the Equality Authority explained that employers cannot exclude a prospective employee on medical grounds alone unless the disability makes it impossible to carry out the job.
Even then, employers are obliged to accommodate workers with disabilities who need extra support to carry out a job once the cost of providing support is nominal.
The definition of nominal has not yet been tested by any legal action.
Iarnr≤d ╔ireann welcomed the settlement and said the company had several deaf workers on its staff.
The question of offering Mr Shanahan the job did not arise as he had already secured employment elsewhere.
A total of 27 cases have been taken on disability grounds under the 1998 Act.
The first to be concluded resulted in a £15,000 award last month to a probationary worker who was let go by a computer company when her epilepsy was discovered during a medical required for a permanent post.