Jobseeker awarded €7,500 for questions about her age
AN ‘old school’ boss of an electrical firm who asked a female job applicant at interview if she was married, did she have children and her age has been ordered to pay €7,500 compensation to the woman.
Adjudication Officer at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Anne McElduff has found that the questions asked by the 58-year-old company owner at interview on October 26, 2018 were discriminatory.
Ms McElduff found that the question sought to elicit information from the job applicant about her civil and family status and age and therefore contravened the provisions of the Employment Equality Acts.
She found that the complainant “was put in an uncomfortable position,” and had felt “obliged to answer”.
However, in response to a separate discrimination claim by the job applicant, Ms McElduff found that the discrimination she experienced was not the reason she didn’t get the job.
The complainant told the
WRC that she was taken aback by these questions towards the end of the interview which she regarded as “totally unacceptable”.
She submitted that she had reluctantly answered these questions but felt very uncomfortable in doing so as they had absolutely no bearing on her ability to do the job in question.
The complainant had an extensive career history in administration. Upon the closure of her previous workplace she secured an interview with the electrical firm for a parttime administrative post.
After the interview she complained to the recruitment agency which confirmed the were “inappropriate questions” and that the firm owner has not asked them of other candidates.
The agency’s representative added: “I apologise if he made you feel uncomfortable in any way. He is old school in his approach”.
In response to the discrimination claim, the Tipperaryborn electrical firm boss said that at the end of the interview “we chatted about different things including hobbies & interests”.
He said that if the complainant “feels I asked inappropriate questions I do apologise as this was not my intention and it had no bearing on her interview or the fact that she was unsuccessful”.
The interviewer accepted the three questions would be inappropriate if asked at the interview but that the interview was over when these exchanges took place.
“My intention was never to make the complainant feel uncomfortable, in fact it was the complete opposite,” he said.
He admitted enquiring about the applicant’s age, but said that he had “immediately insisted” she did not answer, saying: “I shouldn’t ask a woman her age”.