The Workplace Relations Commission ordered a retail outlet to pay a customer €1,000 after finding it discriminated against her because she was a member of the Traveller community. In a decision dated 7 July 2016, the WRC also directed the outlet to provide staff training on equality and equal status legislation.
The customer said she was asked to leave the shop while shopping with family and threatened with a call to gardaí. The outlet did not reply to the complaint or attend the hearing. The adjudicator accepted the customer’s uncontested evidence that she and her family were Travellers, and that other customers were allowed to remain in the shop.
The adjudicator found staff suspected the family might steal because they were Travellers, but that suspicion had no basis. The customer and her family were asked to leave solely because they were Travellers, the WRC found, and it ordered compensation for the effect of the discrimination as well as staff training.