Woman told ‘get down and dirty’ awarded €13k

A woman has been awarded €13,000 in compensation by the Equality Tribunal after being told she needed to dress less formally and “get down and dirty with the men” during the job interview process with an unnamed suicide prevention organisation.

After initial interviews had taken place, the remaining candidates for the job were the woman and a male applicant, Mr B. The candidates were invited to an interactive session with clients of the organisation on April 8 last year. The woman felt it went well.

The following day she was phoned by a male consultant with the organisation, Mr A, who offered to provide her with feedback on her performance. She said it became apparent he had attended the interactive session masquerading as a participant who made a very negative comment at its conclusion.