LAST UPDATE | 2 Nov 2023
THE WORKPLACE RELATIONS Commission (WRC) has found that An Garda Siochána discriminated against a sergeant who had suffered life changing injuries in an assault on duty.
In a judgment released today the WRC said it has fined An Garda Síochána €65,000 for discrimination on the basis of disability in its treatment of Sergeant David Haughney.
Haughney, who has 32 years of service in An Garda Síochána, took the case against Superintendent Adrian Gamble in the wake of meetings with the senior officer at his station in Midleton, Co Cork.
Haughney, who worked in roads policing and was an instructor in public order tactics, suffered a serious eye injury in an on duty assault.
The sergeant suffered a permanent injury in the December 2014 incident – this resulted in him having 70% vision loss on one side.
In his complaint to the WRC, Haughey alleged that Superintendent Adrian Gamble prevented him from continuing his work as a senior instructor in use-of-force techniques and as a public order command advisor.
He said this was despite continuing with this work following medical leave for treatment of a detached retina in his injured eye in 2019. He returned to work and was permitted to drive a garda patrol car by the Chief Medical Officer.
Between 2015 and 2019 the WRC found that Haughney continued to be involved in the training programmes and was subsequently appointed as a Public Order Trainer.
“He continued, with the support of his then Superintendents, John Quilter and Eamon O’Neill, to actively carry out his responsibilities and duties with the same degree of competence as before his work related injury in 2014. The Complainant [Haughney] went to great lengths to continue to be an active member of the Respondent [An Garda Síochána],” the judgment read.
In April 2019 Haughney underwent a further operation to his left eye which resulted in him being absent from work for approximately four months. During this time Gamble began working in Midleton.
The case centred around interactions he had with Gamble at the east Cork garda station.
At a meeting, the WRC found, Gamble referred to a report which had been obtained from the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) which he said stated that the Complainant should be restricted to non-confrontational duties.
“He did not provide the Complainant with a copy of this report. Superintendent Gamble actively decided to take a narrow interpretation of the CMO’s phrase ‘non-confrontational duties.
“In particular the Complainant was informed that he was no longer permitted to engage in any driving, training or present himself in public in uniform. This is the point at which the discrimination towards him commenced,” the report said.
In October of 2019 the WRC report said that Gamble put Haughney in an office away from his colleagues and it was alleged by the sergeant that this impacted his health and well being.
When Haughney was contacted to go to the Garda College to recertify as a public order tactical advisor Gamble refused this – that refusal was later overturned by a local Chief Superintendent.
Haughney went to a specialist in December 2019 and obtained a report that said that he should not be stopped from driving a garda vehicle. Despite this Gamble, the WRC found, continued to restrict the garda sergeant’s duties.
There were a number of occasions where senior officers requested Haughney’s assistance with training.
He wrote to Chief Superintendent Tom Myers with a number of proposals of how he could continue to train gardaí but this was never responded to by the senior officer.
On a number of occasions Haughney’s situation was raised before senior members of An Garda Síochána including Assistant Commissioner Mick Finn – the senior garda in charge of policing in Cork.
The WRC report found that because of his treatment by Gamble he submitted ten separate complaints of bullying in an internal garda process against the superintendent.
This allegation was investigated by garda authorities and there was no finding made against Gamble.
Haughney appealed this and a barrister Susan Lewis conducted an audit of the investigation and subsequently in May 2022 this found that there were grounds to make findings against Gamble.
In its examination the appeal report found: “It is the effect of the behaviour on Sergeant Haughney which is important “in all my service, I have never experienced such utter disdain from another member.
The effect of this on Sergeant Haughney [sic] was to cause him humiliation and undermine his dignity at work.”
Evidence was provided to the WRC hearing by the Chief Medical Officer of An Garda Síochána Dr Richard Quigley.
A letter dated 8th March 2021 from the office of the Chief Medical Officer to the head of garda human resources said that the treatment Haughney was receiving in the workplace was having an impact on his mental health.
The CMO said that there was an urgent need for “some form of mediation, negotiation or other discussions”.
The WRC found Superintendent Gamble’s interpretation of the advice from the office of the Chief Medical Officer differed greatly from the interpretation of the same advice by three of his predecessors.
The ruling by the WRC adjudicator found that the discrimination went further that a mere lack of “reasonable accommodation for a disability”.
“On the return to work after the first period of absence accommodations were provided to the complainant [Haughney] by three different superintendents.
“These reasonable accommodations were withdrawn by Superintendent Gamble on the second return to work. Treating similar situations differently can give rise to discrimination,” the report said.
An Garda Siochána submitted a number of submissions in which it declared that it had full faith in Haughney’s ability to police.
The WRC ruled “that the complaint of discrimination as presented is well founded”.
It directed that An Garda Síochána pay Haughney €65,000 in compensation and that be paid within 42 days.
In response to a query from The Journal a garda spokesperson said: “The adjudication decision has been received by An Garda Síochána and its contents will now be examined in detail. A decision will be taken as to the appropriate next steps when this examination is completed.”
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