{"id":485721,"date":"2026-06-06T06:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485721\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T06:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T06:12:14","slug":"cork-cinema-compensation-more-than-doubled-to-e29000-in-autism-discrimination-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/485721\/","title":{"rendered":"Cork cinema compensation more than doubled to \u20ac29,000 in autism discrimination case"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of Cork<\/a>\u2019s largest cinemas has had the compensation it must pay to a former duty manager over its failure to provide him with reasonable accommodation for his autism more than doubled to \u20ac29,000.<\/p>\n

The Labour Court ruled that Omniplex Cork, based in Mahon Point, had breached the Employment Equality Act 1998 by discriminating against Dylan O\u2019Riordan on grounds of disability.<\/p>\n

Both the cinema and Mr O\u2019Riordan had issued separate appeals with the Labour Court against a ruling of the Workplace Relations Commission which had awarded the former duty manager compensation of \u20ac12,000.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Riordan resigned from the company on June 7 2024, after over two years in the job, over allegations that it had failed to provide him with reasonable accommodation.<\/p>\n

He told the Labour Court that he had referred to his autism on his job application but did not require special or reasonable accommodation at the time.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Riordan gave evidence that his mental health had deteriorated in late 2022 and he had sought reasonable accommodation from his general manager on several occasions.<\/p>\n

However, he said the request was not facilitated, although he was offered access to counselling which he did not take up as he already had a long-standing therapist.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Riordan claims his general manager told him that she did not regard autism as a disability but rather a \u201csuperpower.\u201d<\/p>\n

In October 2023, he had to go on sick leave and met a human resources manager in February 2024 to discuss reasonable accommodations recommended by an occupational health expert.<\/p>\n

The HR manager, Ray Fitzpatrick, gave evidence that Mr O\u2019Riordan had rejected a number of roster options.<\/p>\n

Mr Fitzpatrick said he had also contacted both the autism charity, AsIAm, and IBEC.<\/p>\n

He accepted he had not carried out a workplace assessment as had been recommended by the occupational health expert but claimed it would have been done as part of a return-to-work plan.<\/p>\n

In its ruling, the Labour Court noted that an employer had a duty to provide reasonable accommodation to an employee with a disability.<\/p>\n

It said that meant the removal of any barriers experienced by an employee so long as there was not a disproportionate burden placed on an employer.<\/p>\n

Labour court deputy chairman, Alan Haugh, said Mr O\u2019Riordan had sought reasonable accommodation which was very much in line with recommendations by a doctor to assist his return to work which included set working hours, earlier shifts and regular structured breaks.<\/p>\n

Haugh noted that the cinema had provided other recommendations including a quiet space to take breaks and noise cancelling headphones.<\/p>\n

He accepted that Mr Fitzpatrick had contacted AsIAm but noted the HR manager had not elaborated on what guidance he received from the charity and if any guidance had been implemented.<\/p>\n

The Labour Court also accepted that Omniplex Cork had made three separate proposals about a revised rostering arrangement to facilitate Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s return to work.<\/p>\n

It said the complainant had an extremely clear insight into his disabilities and the impact of his working arrangements on his wellbeing.<\/p>\n

The court acknowledged that he had also articulated his request for reasonable accommodation once he began experiencing difficulties at work.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Haugh said the evidence of witnesses for the cinema indicated there was a considerable delay in engaging meaningfully with Mr O\u2019Riordan about suitable rostering arrangements.<\/p>\n

He said no cogent argument had been made by the company that Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s request would impose a disproportionate burden on it.<\/p>\n

The Labour Court said Mr O\u2019Riordan\u2019s request and the doctor\u2019s recommendations could have been met in a timely fashion if the company had been \u201ctruly committed to facilitating the complainant\u2019s return to work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It directed Omniplex Cork to pay him compensation of \u20ac29,000, which was the equivalent of one year\u2019s gross salary.<\/p>\n

Haugh said the level of the award for the effects of discrimination was designed to be \u201ceffective, dissuasive and proportionate\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of Cork\u2019s largest cinemas has had the compensation it must pay to a former duty manager over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-485721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}