The WRC awarded a government department employee €7,500 after finding that questions about her marital and family status during a promotion interview were discriminatory. The decision was dated 25 October 2017.
The employee said a Minister of State asked whether she was married, whether she had children and how old they were, then remarked that she “must be very busy”. The government department said the questions were intended to help the Minister get to know candidates and that the information was irrelevant to selection. The WRC found the employee alone was asked those questions and that the explanation did not remove their discriminatory nature. It found discrimination on both civil status and family status grounds, but did not find that the questions caused her not to be selected. The award compensated her for the discriminatory remarks and questions.