A worker who was denied a reduced working week after being diagnosed with a migraine condition has won €20,000 in an Irish legal first. South Munster Money Advice and Budgeting Service CLG was ordered to pay the sum to the employee, Laura Beresford, on foot of a complaint alleging disability discrimination in breach of the Employment Equality Act 1998. Beresford told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) at a hearing last year that she fell ill in April 2024 and was diagnosed with vestibular migraine. She suffered headaches, nausea and fatigue which “significantly impaired her ability to function”, she said. After three months out sick, she returned to work in July 2024 and presented a letter from her GP advising that a reduction in her working hours would help her manage the condition, she said. She formally sought a reduction in working hours from a five-day, 35-hour working week to 28 hours over four days, with one day working from home, she said. The arrangement was supported by an occupational health assessment commissioned by her employer, she added.However, the employer’s position at the time, and before the WRC, was that financial rules set by its funding body, the Citizens Information Board, constrained it from arranging anything other than half-time. Ursula Collins, a regional manager at the respondent, said the only part-time contract permitted by Citizens Information was for a 17½-hour work week. Beresford said she ended up using her annual leave in an attempt to stick to the 28-hour week her doctor had recommended, but could not sustain this after her days ran low. There was “no discretion to award a permanent 28-hour contract” and doing so could put its funding at risk, Collins said. It was the respondent’s position that neither Beresford’s GP nor the occupational health assessor had identified the complainant’s condition as a disability. Adjudication officer Úna Glazier-Farmer rejected this argument as she upheld the complaint in a decision published on Wednesday and awarded Beresford €20,000 for disability discrimination. “I am satisfied that the complainant’s condition constituted a malfunction affecting bodily function and had more than a trivial or temporary impact on her ability to carry out normal working duties,” Glazier-Farmer wrote. She noted that while there was no precedent in Ireland for a finding that vestibular migraine constituted a disability, an English employment tribunal had made such a finding in 2022. “Employers must do more than apply blanket policies; they must consider the individual employee’s circumstances,” Glazier-Farmer wrote. She concluded the employer had not established that accommodating Beresford with a four-day week would have imposed a disproportionate burden. South Munster Money Advice and Budgeting Service CLG was further directed to review the complainant’s working arrangements with a view to implementing reasonable accommodation and to review its policies and procedures on workplace accommodations for disability. JW O’Donovan LLP appeared for the respondent in the matter. Beresford was represented by BDM Boylan Solicitors LLP.