{"id":662101,"date":"2026-08-29T11:53:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/662101\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T11:53:29","slug":"bus-eireann-worker-blocked-from-seeking-medical-retirement-secures-e40000-at-wrc-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/662101\/","title":{"rendered":"Bus \u00c9ireann worker blocked from seeking medical retirement secures \u20ac40,000 at WRC \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A veteran Bus \u00c9ireann <\/a>employee blocked from seeking medical retirement because he was taking a personal injuries case, claiming he was injured by decades of using power tools on the job, has won \u20ac40,000 for penalisation.<\/p>\n

George Moloney secured the compensation at the Workplace Relations Commission<\/a> (WRC) on foot of a finding that he was penalised in breach of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. <\/p>\n

The tribunal also ordered the company to let Moloney progress his application to retire on medical grounds after more than 40 years\u2019 service as a coachbuilder in its workshops. <\/p>\n

Moloney started at the national coach operator in 1984 as an apprentice and spent his career refurbishing vehicles, the tribunal heard. <\/p>\n

It was \u201cphysically demanding work\u201d with \u201cextensive\u201d use of power tools like air saws and pneumatic knives, said Moloney in evidence to a hearing earlier this month. <\/p>\n

In 2023, he was diagnosed with a hand condition \u201cattributable to prolonged exposure to vibrating tools\u201d at work, he said. Bus \u00c9ireann\u2019s own occupational health team had said the hand condition was consistent with this mechanism of injury, he added. <\/p>\n

\"\"Will the upcoming budget drive inflation and increase costs for Irish households?<\/p>\n

At that point, the company agreed to either find him an alternative job or consider retiring him on the grounds of ill-health, he said. <\/p>\n

Because of his hand, Moloney was deemed medically unsuitable for a transfer to working as a bus driver, the tribunal recorded. <\/p>\n

His solicitors wrote to the company on August 10th, 2023, setting out his position that requiring him to use vibrating tools over a prolonged period amounted to an \u201cunsafe system of work\u201d, he told the commission. <\/p>\n

After that, said Moloney, there was \u201clittle engagement\u201d from the company. <\/p>\n

The tribunal was told last month that a High Court personal injury case concerning liability for the alleged injuries was ongoing. <\/p>\n

A Bus \u00c9ireann manager accepted he informed the complainant that his medical retirement application would not proceed independently of the personal injury claim.<\/p>\n

Bus \u00c9ireann\u2019s head of employee relations, Graham Fagan, argued the WRC couldn\u2019t consider the case because of overlap with the High Court case. <\/p>\n

Ronan Cunningham of Hamilton Turner Solicitors, for Moloney, said they were distinct matters and only the WRC could consider the penalisation complaint. <\/p>\n

Adjudicator \u00dana Glazier-Farmer agreed, and also turned down a Bus \u00c9ireann motion seeking an adjournment \u2013 the company having told the WRC it had been unable to secure legal representation because of the court holidays. <\/p>\n

Glazier-Farmer ruled the legal letter sent in August 2023 constituted a protected act under workplace health and safety law. <\/p>\n

By denying Moloney access to the usual ill-health retirement process because of the live High Court Case, he had been subjected to an \u201cobvious\u201d and \u201csignificant\u201d financial detriment, the adjudicator wrote. <\/p>\n

She concluded there was a causal link between the protected act and the detriment, and that Moloney had therefore been penalised. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is not possible to conclude that the complainant would ultimately have been granted ill-health retirement, he was denied the opportunity to have his case considered in accordance with the respondent\u2019s own procedures,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n

Upholding the complaint, she ordered Bus \u00c9ireann to pay \u20ac40,000 in compensation. <\/p>\n

Glazier-Farmer further directed Bus \u00c9ireann to process Moloney\u2019s application for medical retirement \u201cwithout regard to the existence of any civil proceedings\u201d within 10 weeks. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A veteran Bus \u00c9ireann employee blocked from seeking medical retirement because he was taking a personal injuries case,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[17208,79,18,19,17,81],"class_list":["post-662101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-bus-eireann","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-workplace-relations-commission"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117178664230635848","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}