The Workplace Relations Commission ordered Carlow Property Management Cpm Lettings & Sales Ltd. to pay Chloe Hickey €7,000 after finding that it discriminated against her on the Housing Assistance Payment ground. The decision was dated 6 March 2024.
Hickey was seeking to rent a property while receiving HAP. She said an employee told her the company required a current employment reference and would not offer her a viewing because she was unemployed. The company denied discrimination and said its usual process sought written landlord or employment references.
The adjudication officer found no discrimination on gender or family status grounds, but accepted Hickey’s account of the call and found the company’s conduct amounted to discrimination on the HAP ground. The complaint was well founded on that ground, and the company was ordered to pay compensation for the effects of the prohibited conduct.