An autistic cinema manager who quit when his employer was unable to guarantee him two days off in a row following a months-long dispute over rostering arrangements has secured €12,000 in compensation for disability discrimination.
The complainant’s wife gave evidence that her husband’s manager said she “did not consider autism a disability, but a ‘superpower’,” a remark which the general manager denied making, the tribunal noted.
The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Omniplex Cork Ltd to pay the sum to Dylan O’Riordan on foot of a complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 after ruling it had failed to give reasonable accommodation for his disability.
The award was made after the tribunal heard the company was in the practice of “arranging suitable shifts” for students and pregnant workers – but made “no such accommodation” for Mr O’Riordan despite an occupational health assessment stating that he needed consistency and rest in his working week.
Mr O’Riordan told the employment tribunal that he had suffered a “significant deterioration” in his mental health in his last months at work as a duty manager at the cinema in late 2023. He had been promoted twice since he was first hired in March 2022, but said he had reported having “severe difficulties” to his manager “on many occasions”, he told the tribunal.
The tribunal heard that on a date in October last year, after a projector broke down at the cinema where Mr O’Riordan was in charge, the complainant informed his general manager that his shift was ending and he “would not be staying to assist”.
She noted the efforts of the company’s HR manager to come to an agreement over a “lengthy period”, but said that Mr O’Riordan’s situation “was not fully addressed” – noting in particular “the absence of certainty in relation to two consecutive days off”.
Ms Cunningham upheld the complaint and concluded the company discriminated against the worker on disability grounds by failing to provide reasonable accommodation.
She ordered the firm to pay €12,000 in compensation and to hold “awareness training or workshops in an effort to introduce a positive management approach to staff with neurological complex conditions such as autism”.
