Discrimination in employment on the ground of gender remains the largestsingle category of complaint dealt with by the Equality Authority, according to its third annual report, published today.
This made up a third of all such cases, with pregnancy-related discrimination particularly com- mon. However, the chief executive of the Equality Authority, Mr Niall Crowley, said that the Labour Court has made significant awards in such cases, of up to a year's salary, and he hoped that this would act a real deterrent.
The Equality Authority was set up under anti-discrimination legislation, which outlaws discrimination in employment and the provision of services on nine grounds: gender, marital and family status, race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, age, and membership of the Travelling community.
There were about 100 cases of discrimination on the race ground, accounting for 22 per cent of the case-work relating to employment. This ground was closely followed by that of disability, which accounted for 19 per cent of the complaints.
According to the report, the type of discrimination suffered by non-nationals included being paid less than Irish workers in the same jobs, illegal deductions from pay, excessive working hours, lack of holiday pay, denial of maternity rights, harassment and dismissal. In one case, it said, a pregnant migrant worker was dismissed for allegedly stealing a piece of fruit. In another, a migrant worker had an accident at work and was given medical advice not to go back to work until the wound healed. He was told he had to return to his country of origin.
The report expressed concern that public and semi-state bodies were found to have discriminated against people with disabilities. The maximum award by the Equality Tribunal, of €12,700, is seen as an inadequate deterrent.
The next-largest category of complaint was for harassment and sexual harassment, making up almost 16 per cent of the total. The total number of employment cases pursued by the legal department of the authority was 489.
The Equal Status Act covers access to goods and services, and 795 cases were taken under this. The majority of these, 413, related to licensed premises, and about three-quarters of the complainants were members of the Travelling community, though there were complaints in this area from people covered by all nine grounds in the legislation.
However, the report showed growing numbers of complaints in relation to the provision of other services, with 53 made against State departments, and 32 against health boards and local authorities.
Mr Crowley said that the Equality Authority was developing strategies to meet increasing demand. This included a pilot programme in community advocacy, focusing on supporting representatives of Traveller organisations in taking cases.
"It would be important that any debate on the role and functions of the ODEI-Equality Tribunal would take account of the importance of the broad right of audience it can provide, which is so important if the legislation is to be effective," he said.