posted by Carmel Murphy on Mar 27

A candidate who refused to fill in his date of birth on an application form in order to register with a recruitment agency was awarded €5,000 by the Equality Tribunal, who found that he had been discriminated against on the grounds of age.

A candidate who was asked questions about the ages of her children and how long it took to drop them at school was awarded €1,000 for discrimination on the grounds of gender as similar questions were not asked of a male candidate, despite the fact that the questions were only asked in order to make the candidate feel at ease.

Employers must ensure that their recruitment practices are robust and transparent and that they are not exposed unnecessarily to potential claims of discrimination on any of the nine grounds outlawed under Irish equality law. 

posted by Carmel Murphy on Mar 27

The employment appeals tribunal continues to award significant compensation to employees who have not been dismissed fairly, including a recent award of over €154,000 to a manager in a docking company dismissed after 37 years service for assaulting a colleague at the Xmas party.

One of the reasons that contributed to the dismissal being declared unfair and the maximum two years salary being awarded was that the investigation process undertaken by the Company after the incident took place was flawed and was carried out by a person who had witnessed events on the night in question. This case once again highlights how critical it is to ensure that all disciplinary matters are handled correctly and with full due process applied, regardless of the substantive nature of the issue. 

posted by Carmel Murphy on Mar 26

The long awaited Employment Rights Compliance Bill was published on March 18th 2008 and contains a number of measures intended to overhaul the existing employment rights and compliance infrastructure. Read the rest of this entry »