DOCUMENTS FROM insurance company Eagle Star show the insurer clearly considered being overweight a “disability” and provided support for a woman’s claim of discrimination by the company in breach of the Equal Status Acts, the High Court was told yesterday.
Bernadette Treanor (49), an equality officer, has claimed Eagle Star insinuated to others in 2002 that her income continuance policy had been 100 per cent loaded because she was overweight and due to “other incorrect reasons”.
She has alleged discrimination by the insurer on grounds of “disability” and has further alleged victimisation of her, in breach of the Equal Status Acts 2000-2004.
Eagle Star has denied the complaints and has said the loading of her cover was applied on the basis of information contained in a medical examination completed by its chief medical officer.
Because Ms Treanor, Dowdallshill, Newry Road, Dundalk, Co Louth, is herself an equality officer, the director of the Equality Tribunal has assigned the case to be investigated by an external temporary equality officer.
After a two-day hearing yesterday, Mr Justice John Hedigan reserved judgment on an application by Eagle Star to prevent the Equality Tribunal investigating the complaints by Ms Treanor.
The company contends the equality tribunal has no jurisdiction to investigate the complaints because the complaint of discrimination on grounds of “disability” does not fall within the definition of “disability” within the meaning of the Equal Status Acts.
In submissions yesterday for Ms Treanor, Siobhán Phelan argued that documents provided by Eagle Star made it clear that the company considered obesity to be a disability. Even on the basis of those documents, that claim did not stand up to scrutiny and the documents formed the basis for a substantial case of discrimination under the Acts, Ms Phelan said.
The case arose after Ms Treanor sought income continuance cover in 2002 under the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants Income Continuance Plan with Eagle Star. She was told in August 2002 she was being accepted with a 100 per cent loading. She would have to disclose the rating when applying for further policies.
That same month, she made complaints against Eagle Star of discrimination on grounds of disability. She claimed the loading decision was based on “medical information” which was “no longer relevant”.
