Hertz Rent a Car has been ordered to pay €10,000 compensation to a blind person after it imposed a €150 valet “damage” charge due to a car made excessively dirty with dog hair from the woman’s guide dog Django.
At the Workplace Relations Commission, Adjudicator Gaye Cunningham has ordered Ryan’s Investments Unlimited Company trading as Hertz Rent A Car to pay the €10,000 compensation for the effects of the discrimination suffered by Kim Murphy under the Equal Status Act.
As part of her order, Ms Cunningham has ordered the Irish arm of Hertz Rent a Car to offer an apology to Ms Murphy for the prohibited conduct that occurred and update its policies to its rental car service making provision for persons with disabilities, including blind persons who require the carriage of a guide dog in the vehicle.
Ms Murphy contended she was treated less favourably on the ground of disability by Hertz Rent a Car when it imposed the €150 valet charge relating to her guide dog.
Ms Cunningham found that Hertz Rent a Car discriminated against Ms Murphy with the imposition of the €150 rectification charge, an apparently neutral provision which she found put Ms Murphy at a particular disadvantage compared with other persons.
Ms Cunningham further found that Hertz Rent a Car discriminated against Ms Murphy by failing to provide her with reasonable accommodation to accommodate her needs and that such provision would give rise to only a nominal cost.
On April 3, 2024 Ms Murphy’s husband, Anthony Murphy, rented a car for himself and his wife from the Dublin branch of Hertz Rent a Car for five days.
In her evidence, Ms Murphy said her guide dog Django was a cross Labrador/Retriever who was with her for eight years.
Django was trained by the Irish Guide Dogs and when travelling in a car, Django would sit in the passenger footwell as he did on the occasion of the rental.
Ms Murphy said that it was a wet day when her husband was returning the car and the man receiving it did say to him that there was “superficial soiling” on the inside of the car.
However, Ms Murphy did not accept that the valet charge of €150 was reasonable and she queried it in April 2024.
Ms Murphy stated that €150 is a significant amount as she has only a pension in respect of her disability.
Mr Murphy sought a refund from the Dublin Airport branch of Hertz Rent a Car and in response Hertz Rent a Car told him that in this case “the vehicle was required to be sent for extensive cleaning and subsequently was removed from the fleet whilst this was performed”.
Please be assured that we understand your wife’s needs for the dog to be in the vehicle and had the vehicle been returned to us in a satisfactory condition, no additional charge would have been levied in this instance,” the email read.
“In this instance however, we believe that the condition that the vehicle was returned to us in justifies the charge applied in this instance…” it added.
In response to Ms Murphy’s complaint under the Equal Status Act, Hertz Rent a Car stated “that upon inspection of the vehicle it was noted that the car was excessively dirty with dog hair, the floor mats were wet and there was a strong dog odour from the vehicle”.
Hertz Rent a Car stated that it was only at the end of the conversation that the information was provided to Hertz that there was a guide/service dog in the vehicle during the rental.
“It was not charged simply because the claimant had a guide dog in the vehicle but due to the condition the car was returned in which would not be rented again until professionally cleaned,” the company said.
In evidence at a WRC hearing at the Tower Hotel in Waterford, Mr B for Hertz Rent a Car accepted the car back from Mr Murphy and stated that his job was to check for damage or problems.
He said in this case the inside of the car was soiled and there was an odour from the dog having been in the car.
Hertz Rent a Car stated that the rectification fee is applied universally to any customer where the condition of the vehicle warrants it and is not a bar to accessibility.
Reporting by Gordon Deegan