Man gets €40,000 in age discrimination case

A SENIOR manager in the civil service has been awarded €40,000 by an equality tribunal after he was denied promotion on age grounds.

The Department of Health and Children was also ordered to revamp its job interviewing mechanism.

Assistant principal officer John Gillen, aged 58, took an action against the department after being twice turned down for promotion four years ago. He claimed discrimination on age grounds after being unsuccessful for a principal officer’s post.

The equality officer directed the department to introduce a more objective and transparent interview mechanism which would allow all applicants to be considered on their own merits.

The department was also directed to ensure its internal interview boards had formal interview training.

Comprehensive notes of interviews should also be retained, the equality officer advised.The department, however, denied there was any policy or practice of discrimination on grounds of age.

Mr Gillen, who joined the civil service in 1978, claimed discrimination under the Employment Equality Act, following his failure to win promotion to the higher grade.

He further claimed the department operated a policy of non-promotion of officers aged over 50 years.

He initially failed in 1990 and 1991 in inter-department promotion competitions for principal officer posts in education and revenue.

However, he was placed on a panel of assistant principal officers found suitable for promotion.

In November 1999, the complainant participated unsuccessfully in two further promotional competitions. In an internal department promotion competition, Mr Gillen claimed the successful applicant was 35 years old and was the second youngest participant.

Mr Gillen said he had approximately twice the length of service at assistant principal officer as the successful candidate.

He also said the vacancy was in the Personnel Management and Development Unit of the department where he had extensive experience.

He further alleged the department had not complied with an agreement procedure worked out with the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants.