A civil servant in the Irish Republic with an eye condition so serious she could not use computers was unfairly denied promotion, the country's Equality Tribunal has ruled.
Carmel Boyle, who was told by her optician not to use computer monitors because of her optical condition - which was unspecified in the Tribunal's ruling - had worked for the ROI's social affairs department in Dungloe since 1990.
Nearly three years ago she applied for promotion but her local management denied it to her, citing poor performance.
She complained and the Equality Tribunal last week found that she had been overlooked because of her disability and fined her employer €10,000 (£6,795).
In her adjudication, Gerardine Coyle, the Tribunal's equality officer, said the Department of Social and Family Affairs had breached the Employment Equality Act 1998.
Coyle noted that Boyle's management were aware of her condition and earlier in her career this had not been a problem as much of the work was manual. However, throughout the 1990s the tasks became more computerised, though the Department did require their employee to be involved 'affording her special treatment' allowing her to continue in employment.
In her decision Coyle recognised this, and that Boyle 'did not express the desire to work on computers or indeed to become familiar with any tasks which had a computer dimension'.
