February 2001 - Discriminatory Advertising
"Recruitment Advertising Illegal if Ageist"
On 29/12/00 the Equality Officer ordered Ryanair to pay the
Equality Authority IR£8,000 in compensation for the
effects of discrimination on the grounds of age.
On 25/02/00 Ryanair had published an advertisement in the
Irish Times for the position of Director of Regulatory Affairs
which stipulated that it needed " a young and dynamic
professional…" and that "the ideal candidate
will be young, dynamic…".
The Equality Officer, following a complaint, decided that
Ryanair discriminated on grounds of age by causing the advertisement
to be published in contravention to Section 10(1) of the Employment
Equality Act, 1998.
The Equality Officer ordered Ryanair to pay IR£8,000.
He found that "in my view overt and public discrimination,
which has occurred in this case by way of discriminatory advertising,
must be countered in the strongest possible way. I note that
if this case had been taken by an existing employee of the
respondent, the maximum amount I could have awarded is equivalent
to two years pay. However, as the complainant is not an employee
the maximum which may be awarded is £10,000. I do believe
that the maximum award could be justifiably awarded in cases
of discriminatory advertising".
The Equality Officer ordered Ryanair to publish in the Irish
Times a statement of at least the same size and prominence
as the advertisement complained of, making a clear commitment
to equal opportunities policies, specifically referring to
all of the nine grounds under the 1998 Act. He ordered that
its Employees Guide was to be updated and that new procedures
which would "equality proof" all future recruitment,
promotion and selection guidelines were to be put in place
and that all of its employees were to be informed of this
decision. Short deadlines for the fulfilment of this Order
were fixed.
This Judgement is the first Judgement under the 1998 Act
which outlaws discrimination on grounds of age and on the
eight other grounds specified. It is also the first Judgement
in Europe against age discrimination under equality legislation.
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