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Northern Ireland
O’Neill v Department for Social Development [2012]
Decision Number: Legal Body: niiet
Published on: 10/08/2012
Issues Covered:
Discrimination
Article Authors The main content of this article was provided by the following authors.
Background The claimant took a case against the Department for Social Development (DSD). The claimant was a 29 year-old Civil Servant who developed an aggressive form of Rheumatoid Arthritis. She requested a transfer closer to her County Londonderry home from Belfast where she was positioned. She was able to travel to work because of a scheme that allows 32her to take a taxi but that was due to end shortly. However, she was never offered a transfer opportunity in any of the three areas of her choice.The tribunal found the DSD operated a transfer policy which gave priority to non-disabled staff over disabled staff, with priority given to those who needed to be moved out of an area because they were no longer required there, than to those who required a transfer. They were also found not to be making reasonable adjustments to facilitate disabled employees. The tribunal found that the practical effect of the policy was to provide relative redeployment advantages to surplus staff, in preference to disabled staff at a time when a large number of surplus staff had to be redeployed. Consequently, it was held that the claimant had suffered discrimination because of her disability and she was awarded £7,500.http://bit.ly/QFxgIE

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Disclaimer The information in this article is provided as part of Legal Island's Employment Law Hub. We regret we are not able to respond to requests for specific legal or HR queries and recommend that professional advice is obtained before relying on information supplied anywhere within this article. This article is correct at 10/08/2012
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