Eddie Rockets has been ordered to pay €5,000 after coming to an equality hearing “holding its hands up” to discriminating against former Paralympic athlete Nadine Lattimore as a guide dog user.
The Workplace Relations Commission heard in October that Ms Lattimore was told by a worker at its restaurant on Parnell Street, Dublin 2, that she would have to take a seat by the entrance if she was to bring her guide dog in.
The case was the third time this year that Ms Lattimore has gone to the Workplace Relations Commission to assert her rights under equality legislation as a blind person over difficulties accessing business premises with a guide dog.
On 2 October 2023, Ms Lattimore said in evidence, she arrived to Eddie Rockets on Parnell Street in Dublin 2 to be directed to a booth by the door by an employee.
She said she had various safety and security concerns about being seated right beside the door, given her disability, and asked to be given a table further into the premises, while her guide dog, Pilot, would not fit comfortably under the table.
“I was trying to have a conversation,” Ms Lattimore said, telling the tribunal she was attempting to explain that she was trying to exercise her rights. “I was just spoken over,” she said. It was “an absolute blanket no”, she said.
“I’m trying to be as positive as possible about this so I can explain: ‘This is what’s going wrong, this is how we can try and stop it in future,’ trying to interact with the person and raise it – not just be dealt with as a difficult customer,” she said.
She quoted the supervisor as saying: “You are being rude.” Ms Lattimore said she was trying to “advocate for [herself] and not just walk out of the restaurant crying, go home and lick my wounds”.
“I’ve taken planes, trains and boats across many different countries. Previously I had another dog and we travelled extensively across Europe and America. I represented Ireland at the Paralympic Games in 2012, very proudly, with my dog – but I can’t go 100 metres around the corner to a local restaurant,” Ms Lattimore said in evidence.
A former chairman of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, Patrick Burke, told the tribunal its clients had reported “a lot” of similar incidents with accessing businesses around the same time – and in some cases were starting to leave their animals at home for fear of a negative reaction.
Mr Burke said he had attempted to address Ms Lattimore’s case directly with Eddie Rockets in November 2023. He said the company had initially denied discrimination on foot of the findings of what it had termed a “full internal investigation”.
“It seemed to me nobody had learned anything or wanted to learn anything,” he said.
A lawyer for Eddie Rockets said the restaurant group “admitted the discrimination”, but disputed that the staff member Ms Lattimore met had been “difficult in any way”.
Aoife Farrelly BL, appearing instructed by Claire Quinn, the chain’s in-house solicitor, said: “The supervisor made a mistake, an unacceptable mistake, but she made a mistake that was immediately corrected by the head chef. A suggestion that she was difficult or abrupt is refuted.”
Ms Farrelly said the worker had since been given full training on service animals.
David McCarroll, a partner at law firm RDJ LLP who appeared for Ms Lattimore, said there had been a later attempt by the company to have Ms Lattimore “bought out of addressing her rights” with “5,000 silver
“This is not about money, otherwise we would have accepted an offer. It is about seeking a determination that these rights can and should be asserted, and that this sort of behaviour is unlawful,” Mr McCarroll said. He said argued that an award should be made at the maximum level permitted under the Equal Status Act, €15,000, on the basis that it would be “dissuasive” to other businesses.
Ms Farrelly argued for a lesser sum and said the maximum levels of compensation under equality law ought to be reserved for respondents who had required full proof and cross-examined a complainant.
Adjudicator Marie Flynn noted in her decision that Eddie Rockets had “acknowledged that the actions of its staff member were unacceptable and has taken remedial action”.
She directed the payment of €5,000 in compensation to Ms Lattimore and recommended that the chain consider posting signs stating: “Guide Dogs and Assistance Dogs Welcome” at each of its locations.
Ms Lattimore represented Ireland in track and field at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
In July, discount retailer Dealz was ordered to pay Ms Lattimore €7,000 in compensation for the “humiliation” she suffered when a security guard tried to tell her that the guide dog was “not allowed” into its store in the Ilac Centre in Dublin 2.
Then, in September, Lidl was ordered to pay her €2,000 over a February incident when a worker at one of its supermarkets in Dublin City Centre expressed concerns about Pilot potentially “licking the food” in the bakery aisle, leading to what Ms Lattimore called an “embarrassing and humiliating” conversation between staff.
