A care-service manager has failed in her claim for disability-related harassment against her former employer after accusing a colleague of mocking the condition of her arthritic hands.
Tara O’Flaherty had claimed in testimony to the Workplace Relations Commission last year that Kristian Doyle, a former co-worker of hers at Mid West Healthcare Ltd, trading as Kare Plus Mid West, had “contorted” his fingers during a meeting.
Her complaint under the Employment Equality Act 1998 has been rejected by the tribunal.
Ms O’Flaherty was a care manager earning a salary of €45,000 prior to her resignation. She alleged she was subjected to bullying and harassment in connection with her disability, as well as a “hostile and humiliating environment” at work. Discrimination had been denied by the company.
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The tribunal was told Ms O’Flaherty suffered from rheumatoid arthritis, which caused a pronounced subluxation of her hands. Her solicitor said this was plain to see from conversational distance.
At a hearing in January 2025, Daniel McNamara BL, appearing for Ms O’Flaherty, put it to Mr Doyle that on August 22nd, 2023, Ms O’Flaherty had sought a different laptop because her work device was having some “technical difficulties” connecting to a projector.
He said his client’s evidence had been that “upon requesting the laptop, that you began to wave your hands around, that you were laughing and that you mimicked the deformity of subluxation in her hands due to arthritis”.
“Absolutely not,” Mr Doyle said. “I was not reared to be that type of person. I’ve never ever done this.”
Mr Doyle was also questioned on two other alleged incidents of discriminatory harassment, which the adjudicator Louise Boyle noted were time-barred but relevant as background to the complaint.
In a closing submission, Mr McNamara, who was instructed by Natalia Lenart of Houlihan Solicitors in the matter, said his client’s disability was “clearly visible from conversational distance”, as her arthritis had caused pronounced subluxation in her hands.
Nicola Murphy, of human resources consultancy Peninsula, which appeared for the company, said the company was never formally on notice of any disability during Ms O’Flaherty’s employment. She said the company was never asked to provide workplace accommodations specific to the disability.
“The only evidence is the complainant’s testimony, which is categorically denied by Mr Doyle’s testimony,” she said, arguing Ms O’Flaherty had “failed to meet the standard of proof” to make out a claim for disability discrimination.
In her decision, adjudicator Louise Boyle wrote that both Ms O’Flaherty and Mr Doyle had given evidence which “appeared evasive”.
The testimony from both, “at times . . . lacked the detail that might have been expected, which brings into question the credibility of some of the evidence of both witnesses”, Ms Boyle wrote.
“Both the complainant and Mr Doyle had worked together previously and while there appeared to have been, certainly at the start of the working relationship with [Kare Plus Mid West], a good professional relationship, it would appear that for whatever reason this deteriorated,” she wrote.
Ms Boyle concluded that Ms O’Flaherty had failed to establish an inference of discrimination that would shift the burden of proof to her former employer.
“The complainant was not discriminated against, was not harassed and there was no failure to provide reasonable accommodation on the grounds of disability and the claim is therefore, not well founded,” she wrote.
