The WRC found that Poundland Limited Dealz discriminated against Caroline Maughan because she is a member of the Traveller community and ordered it to pay her €4,000. The decision, dated 17 February 2022, concerned an incident at the company’s Thomas Street shop in Dublin, where Maughan said she was refused permission to buy goods and asked to leave.
The company denied discrimination and said staff asked Maughan to leave because of her behaviour. The adjudicator found Maughan credible and said the approach used would not, on the balance of probabilities, have been used with a customer who was not a member of the Traveller community. He took into account the public setting and embarrassment, as well as Maughan’s admitted use of abusive language, when setting compensation.