Civil servant wins €40,000 in age discrimination case

The Equality Tribunal has ordered the Department of Health to pay €40,000 in compensation to a man who was overlooked for promotion because of his age.

John Gillen, who unsuccessfully applied for promotion on two occasions, claimed the department had a policy of not promoting officers over the age of 50.

As well as ordering the department to compensate Mr Gillen for age discrimination, the Equality Tribunal also directed it to make its promotion policy more objective and transparent and to ensure that job interview boards have adequate training, apply strict promotion criteria and retain their interview notes.