The Equality Tribunal has upheld two out of a total of nine employment equality cases it examined in September, ordering compensation totalling €4,000.
The tribunal found in favour of Mary Murray, a general operative at Boxmore Plastics Ltd in Ballyconnell, Co Cavan, on the grounds she had been victimised by her employer.
Ms Murray had alleged she was threatened with disciplinary action for raising concerns of gender discrimination following an unsuccessful interview for the position of group leader, a claim the plastics firm rejected.
Boxmore claimed that during the company's internal grievance procedure, the complainant had said she would have lodged a complaint even if the position had been filled by one of the other female candidates.
The company said Ms Murray was advised that, in light of such statements, it appeared that some elements of her claim may be frivolous or vexatious, and that if it was found to be so at the end of the investigation, disciplinary action could be considered. It argued that this did not constitute victimisation.
Equality Officer Anne-Marie Lynch concluded that Ms Murray had "the threat of disciplinary action before her at all stages of this investigation" and that it clearly constituted victimisation. She ordered Boxmore to pay Ms Murray €3,000 in compensation.
The tribunal rejected as out of time Ms Murray's claim that she had been discriminated against because of her gender, saying her complaint was lodged more than nine months after she was informed that she had been unsuccessful in her interview.
In the second case, the tribunal found that Paul MacGabhainn had been discriminated against on the grounds of age when he was asked his date of birth during a job interview for the position of sales representative with Salesforce.com, a firm specialising in customer relationship management services. Salesforce.com said the question had the sole purpose of eliciting a response in German from Mr MacGabhainn in order to assess his proficiency in the language, one of the job requirements. It said the disclosure of his age in no way influenced the decision to appoint another person.
Equality Officer Anne-Marie Lynch said the firm should consider "drawing up some standard format questions to ensure discriminatory remarks or questions do not inadvertently arise". She ordered Salesforce.com to pay Mr MacGabhainn €1,000.