Re-Turn Ireland has failed in an attempt to have a discrimination case brought by a blind man thrown out at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
The tribunal found it is “very clear” that the bottle deposit return manager “determines how the scheme will work” and that the complainant had made out an arguable case that the body is providing a service.
The claimant, Pat McCarthy, has alleged he is disadvantaged by the scheme because he cannot read the markings indicating whether or not a drink container is included in the scheme.
Deposit Return Scheme Ireland CLG, trading as Re-Turn Ireland, denies a statutory complaint by Mr McCarthy under the Equal Status Act 2000.
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Its lawyers argued the WRC “manifestly does not have jurisdiction” and called on the tribunal to dismiss the claim as “misconceived” – an application which was rejected in a preliminary ruling published on Thursday.
Mr McCarthy’s case is that he went to an Aldi store at Carrigtwohill in Co Cork to return his drinks containers, but found himself unable to either locate a reverse vending machine, use the machine, or identify the Re-Turn logo on his bottles and cans.
Mr McCarthy told the tribunal that he had been recycling his cans and bottles “for decades” with little or no trouble, but that Re-Turn had “treated him worse” because he is blind.
“The placing of Re-Turn logos or other marks and symbols in a way that blind people can’t read is a policy that applies in the same way for everybody but disadvantages a group of people who share a protected characteristic,” he stated in a submission to the WRC.
He said he was “disadvantaged” by this due to his disability – pointing to a lack of accessible signage and a failure to use labels compatible with assistive technology for the visually impaired.
Cliona Kimber SC, appearing for Deposit Return Scheme Ireland CLG instructed by Suzanne Keenan of Byrne Wallace Shields LLP, argued that Re-Turn was not providing a service to the public.
It was “simply acting as the government-approved body to manage the scheme” and did not “order, own or operate the reverse vending machine” at Aldi Carrigtwohill, Ms Kimber submitted.
“The respondent applies for the dismissal of this complaint on the basis that the Workplace Relations Commission does not have jurisdiction to consider this complaint, as the complaint is misconceived,” Ms Kimber further submitted.
Mr McCarthy argued that the scheme was run as an “integrated” service under a “partnership” between Aldi and Re-Turn, the WRC noted.
In his preliminary decision, adjudication officer Brian Dalton wrote that it was “very clear” that Deposit Return Scheme Ireland “determine[s] how the scheme will work”.
It “prescribes a logo [and] a bar code and approves what reverse vending machines are to be used,” he wrote.
Mr Dalton found that what set the case before him apart was the fact that the reverse vending machines were “not limited to product purchased at that site or that retailer”.
“On the facts, I find that the complainant has made out an arguable case that [Deposit] Return Scheme Ireland [is] providing a service by prescribing how the scheme can be accessed,” he wrote.
“I find that the complaint is not misconceived, and will be set down for hearing of the substantive matter,” Mr Dalton concluded.
