ADJUDICATION OFFICER DECISION
Adjudication Decision Reference: ADJ-00001248
Complaint(s)/Dispute(s) for Resolution:
Act | Complaint/Dispute Reference No. | Date of Receipt |
Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under Section 21 Equal Status Act, 2000 | CA-00001706-001 | 30/12/2015 |
Date of Adjudication Hearing: 26/04/2016
Workplace Relations Commission Adjudication Officer: Emile Daly
Procedure:
In accordance with Section 25 of the Equal Status Act, 2000 following the referral of the complaint(s)/dispute(s) to me by the Director General, I inquired into the complaint(s)/dispute(s) and gave the parties an opportunity to be heard by me and to present to me any evidence relevant to the complaint(s)/dispute(s).
Complainant’s Submission and Presentation:
I attended respondent store at (details supplied) on the 20/08/15 and had purchased some items. I was in the store with four of my sisters in law and while I was waiting for them I decided to browse, I became aware that I was being watched by members of staff. A male member of staff approached me and said " get out of the shop or I am calling the Guards " I asked for an explanation as to why I was being asked to leave and no reason was given. There were other customers in the store at that time. I was again asked to leave or the Guards would be called. I told the staff member that I would wait for the Guards to come. I waited in the store for approximately twenty minutes for the Guards to arrive and when the squad car arrived I told the Guards what had happened. One of the Guards said that they should not have been called out and told me to contact a Solicitor. |
At the hearing on 28 April 2016 the Complainant gave the above evidence verbally and also added the following evidence:
An employee of the Respondent shop asked the Complainant and her family members, to leave as he had a stock take to do.
A security guard then approached the Complainant and told her to leave or else the gardai would be called.
This was the first time that the Complainant had ever been asked to leave any shop premises. She was shocked and upset. They had only gone into the shop to buy toiletries for a trip to Bundoran, the following day.
She understood from the words used that the employee of the Respondent, that he believed that either she, or one of her group, intended to steal items from the shop. There was no reason why they were asked to leave the shop. They had not done anything untoward. She had already purchased some items in the shop and was merely waiting for her sisters in law to finish their shopping.
When the security guard threatened calling the gardai, the Complainant told them to do so and the Complainant and her party remained in the entrance lobby of the shop until the gardai arrived. During this waiting time, the security guard asked the children, who were with the Complainant, if they were frightened that the gardai were coming for them. The Complainant believed that this was to frighten them away before the gardai arrived. When the Complainant asked for his full name, he refused to give it.
Respondent’s Submission and Presentation:
No reply to ES1 form
No reply to correspondence from WRC
No attendance at hearing
Decision:
Section 25 of the Equal Status Act, 200 requires that I make a decision in relation to the complaint in accordance with the relevant redress provisions under section 27 of that Act.
I am satisfied that the alleged offence occurred on 20 August 2015.
I am satisfied that a written notification dated 19 October 2015 was filed by the solicitor acting on behalf of the Complainant within two months of the alleged offence, giving details of the alleged offence.
The first matter that I have to decide is whether the complainant has established a prima facie case of discriminatory treatment. I am satisfied that the Complainant is married to a settled traveller and that her extended family members, who accompanied her that day were travellers.
I accept the uncontested evidence of the Complainant that there were other customers in the shop but that it was only her and her family who were travellers and who were asked to leave.
I am satisfied, based on the uncontested evidence of the Complainant, that the Complainant was asked to leave the Respondents shop premises and I am satisfied that this was done on the basis that the staff who were on duty that day, most notably the security guard who asked them to leave, believed that they were travellers and suspected that, had they remained in the shop, that shop items might be stolen.
I do not accept that there was any basis to this suspicion and I am satisfied that this was done solely because the Complainant and her family were travellers.
I am satisfied therefore that a prima facie case of discriminatory treatment has been made out and there being no defence to this complaint I find that the Complainant was discriminated against by the Respondent on the grounds that she was a member of the traveller community contrary to the Equal Status Act 2000. I order that the Respondent pay to the Complainant, the sum of €1000.00 for the effect of that discrimination.
I also order that the Respondent provide to their staff training on the Equality Acts and the Equal Status Acts.
Dated: 7th July 2016