A recovering alcoholic who was overlooked for promotion in the Civil Service despite having the backing of his line managers has been awarded €6,000 by the Equality Tribunal.
Another civil servant who was passed over for promotion because she had an eye condition preventing her from doing computer work was awarded €10,000 by the tribunal.
The decisions were among 14 employment equality and equal status cases published by the tribunal yesterday.
In one, a civil servant claimed he was discriminated against because of his disability when the department employing him failed to promote him.
His disability was identified as his alcoholism. The claimant, the longest-serving staff member in the department on his grade, underwent treatment for alcoholism in 1995 and had been in recovery since, the tribunal was told.
He had expected to be promoted under the consistory - or direct - method of promotion in operation.
He claimed members of the consistory committee were aware of the fact that he was an alcoholic and this had influenced their decision not to recommend him for promotion.
His line managers had assessed him as suitable for promotion and awarded him a high ranking in respect of his performance at his present grade, the tribunal heard. The department, which is not named in the tribunal's decision, submitted that the claimant was no longer suffering from a disability.
This was rejected by the equality officer, however, who agreed with the decision in a previous case that alcoholism was a disability for the purposes of the Equal Status Act, 2000.
He found that the claimant had not been recommended for promotion despite the fact that a significant number of candidates with a similar or inferior overall assessment ranking had been recommended as suitable.
The department was ordered to appoint the claimant to the relevant promotional grade and to backdate all appropriate pay and benefits adjustments to the date the first appointment was made from the panel set up following the consistory. It was also told to pay him €6,000 in compensation for the distress suffered.
In a separate case, the tribunal awarded €10,000 to Carmel Boyle, a clerical officer with the Department of Social and Family Affairs in Donegal.
It upheld Ms Boyle's complaint that a decision not to recommend her for promotion was influenced by the fact she was unable to carry out computer tasks because of an eye condition.
Local management had cited "poor performance" for a refusal to recommend Ms Boyle for a vacant staff officer position in Dungloe, despite her being the most senior candidate available.
The equality officer said there had been no formal reviews of Ms Boyle's performance prior to the promotional post being filled. She found the department had failed in its legal duties to the claimant by not exploring options that might have allowed her to carry out computerised tasks, and that Ms Boyle had been discriminated against because of her disability.
