A blind former Paralympic athlete who was repeatedly stopped while trying to do her shopping at Tesco stores has won €6,000 in compensation for disability discrimination.
It is the fourth time in the past year and a half a business has been found liable by the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for discrimination against Nadine Lattimore, who represented Ireland in track and field in the London Paralympic Games in 2012.
In a decision published on Wednesday, the tribunal found Tesco Ireland Ltd was responsible for the actions of the staff of security contractor OCS Group Ireland Limited on three dates in June and July 2024 at supermarkets in Dublin.
The WRC has been told in previous cases Ms Lattimore has a complete visual impairment and has been using guide dogs for over a decade and a half.
RM Block
Ms Lattimore told the WRC that when she went to the Tesco Superstore in Adamstown, Co Dublin with her guide dog, Pilot, and her young son on June 3rd, 2024. A security guard followed her and told her she was “not allowed in the store with a dog”.
On July 16th, 2024, at a Tesco Express in Spencer Dock, Dublin 1, another security guard told her that dogs were not allowed after she came in, she told the tribunal.
That same day, she also went to the Tesco Metro in Parnell Street, Dublin 1, where she said another security guard followed her and told her she was “not allowed to come in with the dog”.
The complainant exhibited phone footage of each of the interactions.
Ms Lattimore also raised two previous interactions with security workers in October 2023 at Tesco’s Parnell Street store in her complaint, but the tribunal concluded these were too long ago for it to have jurisdiction.
Michael Kinsley BL, appearing for Tesco instructed by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP, argued that in each instance, OCS’s staff were not acting with the “authority” of Tesco if they had excluded Ms Lattimore from its stores. Tesco’s position was that Ms Lattimore ought to have pursued the claim against OCS.
Muhammed Shakeel, the manager at Adamstown, told the tribunal an OCS guard had followed Ms Lattimore into the supermarket from the shopping centre “stating that no dogs were allowed”.
On each occasion, apologies were offered to Ms Lattimore and she was told she could go about her business, with assistance with her shopping and free goods proffered, the tribunal heard.
Ms Lattimore declined these offers and said the incidents led to embarrassment for her and distress for her son.
Adjudicator Patricia Owens wrote in her decision: “Even the most cursory of glances would immediately identify Pilot as a guide dog and even at some distance this remained the case.”
She found Tesco was vicariously liable for the actions of the security staff in the three incidents.
Ms Owens awarded €6,000 in compensation to Ms Lattimore for the discrimination.
The adjudicator has also ordered Tesco to make sure all staff and subcontractors are trained up on the Equal Status Act; to set up compliance monitoring mechanisms; and to display signage at the entrance to all of its stores stating: “Guide Dogs & Assistance Dogs Welcome”.
Last year, Ms Lattimore secured €14,000 on foot of three separate rulings of disability discrimination against businesses in north inner city Dublin – Dealz, Lidl and Eddie Rockets, Parnell Street – over incidents when she was using her guide dog. A fourth complaint she brought against a Centra convenience store on Parnell Street was rejected in a decision published last week.
The WRC decision brings the total compensation awarded to Ms Lattimore against businesses in Dublin due to incidents of discrimination to €20,000.
In May this year, the tribunal ruled it did not have jurisdiction to consider a complaint against a private accommodation host in Northern Ireland who said she initially turned down a booking from Ms Lattimore because of a “deep-rooted fear of dogs”.
