OAP who won Eir discrimination case says ‘I cried when they forced me to retire’

Thomas Doolin was informed in February this year that he would have to retire from his €35,000-a-year job as a desktop support agent in the company’s internal IT department as soon as he hit his 65th birthday on July 1.

He took a successful Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) case against the company, which has now been ordered to reinstate him and backpay his wages from July.

Mr Doolin, who lives in Wicklow, told the Sunday World that he always went into work with a spring in his step and can’t wait to get back to see his colleagues.

He said he has plenty more to offer at the age of 65 and he hopes his case inspires others in similar positions to fight against being forced into retirement if they want to keep working.

“I’m a black belt in martial arts. I don’t drink. I don’t smoke I’m fit as a flea.

“I was in there fixing laptops, desktops and all that, and people would say ‘oh Thomas will fix it’. If you brought a machine into me I’d fix it for you. Then, suddenly, a few months before I was 65 it was getting a bit cold.

Thomas Doolin represented himself at the Workplace Relations Commission

“I was thinking ‘what’s going on here you’re not as popular as you were’. They know you’re out the door in a few months’ time and good luck to you. It was disgusting the way they treated me, it really was.”

Thomas told how he loved his job and looked forward to going in every morning.

“I used to walk in in the morning at seven o’clock with a spring in my step. I loved going in and the banter was great,” he said, adding that he got along well with his colleagues and loved seeing them.

“We had a security fella, Anto, on the desk who used to call me the happy fella. We had great banter. I loved it. Not because of the money end of it, it was a brilliant job. It’s a pity the way things happened.”

Thomas said when he was told he would have to retire at 65, he told the company he wanted to stay and felt he still had plenty to offer but they declined to keep him on.

“They sent a young lad out to meet me to take the van off me and when he drove off in the van, I broke down crying.

“A few nights sitting down I had a bit of a cry. I’m strong but it does get to you no matter how hard you are.”

He represented himself at the WRC and said he felt he was in a David versus Goliath situation when he went in on the day.

“When I walked into the room I thought this looks serious. You’d think I was OJ Simpson on trial. They had a barrister, a solicitor, a senior HR and junior HR and I was in representing myself. I’m there on my own and I was saying, ‘jaysis you have no chance with this’.”

Denying discrimination, Eir’s barrister, Sarah Daly BL, appearing instructed by the company’s in-house counsel Jacqueline Ho, said Eir notified Mr Doolin it was setting a mandatory retirement age “across the organisation” in April 2020, which was accepted by Mr Doolin.

The company’s position was that retiring Mr Doolin was objectively justified on the basis that it needed to “maintain an age balance” and succession planning to avert the risk of large numbers of staff retiring at the same time.

Eir’s HR director, James Mangan, also gave evidence that the company would have “potential bureaucratic challenges” and “additional costs” if it could not apply a single retirement age, along with health and safety concerns for the 85pc of the Eir workforce that was based in the field.

However, adjudicator Breiffni O’Neill said the health and safety concerns did not apply to Mr Doolin because he was “exclusively office- and desk-based”.

The “potential cliff-edge scenario” of mass retirements would not arise given that Mr Doolin worked in a “small and non-strategic IT department”.

The hearing was told Mr Doolin’s only income now was €200 per week in social welfare payments.

And Mr O’Neill ruled in his favour. He noted that it was clear Mr Doolin had an “excellent relationship” with Eir when he worked there and was a “much-valued employee”.

“I therefore believe that the complainant should be allowed to resume his employment,” Mr O’Neill said.

He ordered Eir to reinstate Mr Doolin to his previous job effective from the imposed retirement date.

“My solicitor said I should be a legal person myself after winning the case,” Mr Doolin said. He said he celebrated his victory in his home during the week.

“I had two mince pies and had the fire with my feet up.”

Thomas said his father lived well into his 90s and he hopes to do the same.

“I always say to the lads when they’re leaving, lads if you start watching Judge Judy, you’re f***ed. I couldn’t stay in the house all day. I shouldn’t have to stop just because I’m 65.

“It is from the heart. Even on the day of going on to represent myself I said this doesn’t need representation, it just needs common sense.”

He said his phone has been hopping since the victory with former colleagues ringing and messaging him to congratulate him.

He said he hopes his case inspires other in a similar position.

“If anyone else is thinking about taking a case needs any assistance I’ll help them, 65 doesn’t take long to come around.”

Eir has lodged an appeal against the decision.