Publisher Edco has been ordered to pay €64,000 to a saleswoman after deciding her rheumatological condition meant it was not “viable” for her to continue in the job because of the weight of the books she was selling.
Smurfit Kappa Ireland Ltd, trading as the Educational Company of Ireland (Edco) has been ordered to pay Mary Tracy the compensation for breaching the Employment Equality Act 1998.
The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) concluded that the publishing house failed to provide Ms Tracy with reasonable accommodation for her disability before dismissing her in June 2023 from a €58,000-a-year job on the basis that she could not carry enough books into schools to hand out to teachers.
Ms Tracy suffers from systemic lupus erythematosus, or lupus SLE, an autoimmune disease which causes inflammation of the joints, the tribunal was told – and was given medical advice in January 2023, following a flare-up of her symptoms the year before, not to lift more than 3kg at a time.
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With some of Edco’s books weighing 2.7kg, that meant she was limited to a single volume, the WRC heard.
At first, the company temporarily assigned a warehouse worker to come with Ms Tracy and carry books for her during her sales calls to schools in Carlow, Kilkenny and Kildare, the WRC was told.
Giving evidence to a hearing in April 2024, Ms Tracy said she was “overwhelmed” by the amount of stock she was expected to handle because of the publisher’s policy of making sure every teacher got a copy of a every new book released by Edco in their subject area.
At one of her schools in Naas, Co Kildare, there were 10 teachers in the Irish department, she said. That meant that when she went to pitch Edco’s material for students in Junior Cycle there, she had to bring all 10 of the books for first year through to third year and their associated activity books.
Her barrister, Michael Kinsley BL, appearing instructed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC), asked her: “Why bring in 30 books?”
“I never understood it. I actually thought it was a terrible waste of resources, and in terms of professionalism, it took away from my role as a sales rep. I’d be literally sweating trying to haul in all these books. The other reps from other companies weren’t hauling in all this level of stock,” she said.
She told the tribunal she had since found work selling books for one of Edco’s competitors, which did not insist she bring the same volume of stock into staff rooms.
Her former line manager, sales manager Alan Wright, said in evidence that teachers would be “offended” if they didn’t get their own personal copy of a new book and would be “quick enough to let you know”.
“It’s a sales tool. We’re selling to every teacher in the school because they’re all part of the decision-making process,” he said. “My honest opinion is that a weight restriction of 3kg would make the job undoable,” he said, adding that any workaround would put Edco “at a distinct disadvantage in the market”.
In April 2023, Ms Tracy expressed the view that she “didn’t think she could go back to lifting”, the WRC noted. Medical reports given in May and June 2023 recommended continuing with the 3kg limit on manual handling for at least six months, the tribunal heard.
The WRC heard that Tracy was called to a meeting on 20 June 2023 and informed that the company no longer considered it viable for her to continue in the job. She was then offered an alternative role developing a continuous professional development programme for teachers, the WRC heard.
Ms Tracy said she believed that since the alternative seemed to require nationwide travel, marketing duties and a teaching qualification she didn’t have, she was “being set up to fail”.
“I think I’m a capable person, but I don’t have the skill set for this job. I would burn out in months,” she said.
Julie Glennon, a sales director at the firm who had discussed offering Ms Treacy the job, contested this.
Emails, and then legal correspondence from Ms Tracy’s solicitor followed, before the matter was referred to the WRC. Ms Tracy was “signed off” with work-related stress later in the summer. Her dismissal was effected on 22 August 2023 after the company’s managing director, Martina Harford, rejected her appeal, the WRC heard.
Niamh McGowan BL, appearing for the company instructed by Byrne Wallace, has argued the company was “damned if it did and damned if it didn’t”. Ms Tracy was “not able to safely do her job”, but its managers’ efforts to “keep her safe ... gave rise to allegations that the employer was discriminating against her”, she submitted.
In a set of decisions on Ms Tracy’s complaints published on Monday morning , adjudicator Kara Turner wrote that the discrimination claim was “a regrettable consequence of a lack of consultation with the complainant in relation to appropriate measures”.
“There is no basis for a conclusion that the complainant was not capable of undertaking the duties of the role had reasonable accommodation been provided, where there was no work assessment undertaken, and where appropriate measures were not properly assessed,” Ms Turner wrote.
She concluded that the firm had failed to provide reasonable accommodation and discriminated against Ms Tracy due to her disability as a result.
Addressing the dismissal, Ms Turner wrote that the determination that Ms Tracy was “not capable” of fulfilling the role stemmed from Edco having breached the complainant’s rights under equality law.
“The ultimatum concerning termination of employment in the event of the complainant’s non-acceptance of the alternative role was on grounds of the complainant’s disability and the perception that she was less capable than a person without a disability,” she wrote.
“I find the complainant was directly discriminated against in relation to her dismissal,” Ms Turner added.
She awarded Ms Tracy €29,000 for the failure to provide reasonable accommodation and a further €35,000 for the dismissal – a total compensation bill of €64,000 for the publisher.
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