Pizza store pays woman £4,000 for asking her age in interview

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Web Desk
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(Representational) A business meeting. — Unsplash
(Representational) A business meeting. — Unsplash

A Domino's Pizza store in Northern Ireland apologised to and paid a woman £4,250 for asking her age in a delivery driver job interview, reported the BBC.

Janice Walsh asserted that she was not given the job due to her sex and age. She said that the interviewer at the store asked her age during the conversation.

She claimed that the Strabane franchise and its previous owner, Justin Quirk, were discriminatory. As a response, Quirk offered Walsh £4,250 as apology for the incident.

Walsh added that she felt that the interviewing panel was impacted by her age.

She then messaged the store on Facebook and told them what she felt. As a response, one of the panelists told her they were unaware that it was inappropriate to ask about age during the job interviews.

Later, Walsh learnt that those between the ages of 18 and 30 were more suited for the type of job. However, Walsh also felt gender-discriminated. 

The woman claimed that she was passed up for the role of a driver because she was a female.

In the legal battle, the Northern Ireland Equality Commission supported her. The chief legal officer said that recruitment panels should be aware of laws that protect people.

Domino clarified that they used a franchise system which meant an individual store was responsible for recruitment and its process, reported the BBC.