Julie-Anne Barnes
Two women were refused admission to a Limerick bar because of their age, the equality tribunal has found.
Ms Suzanne Crawford (29) and Ms Margaret Crawford (36) were refused entry to The Bootlegger Bar when door staff told them they were "too old" and management wanted "younger women and older men" as customers.
The two women were awarded €300 each in compensation.
The tribunal issued 15 decisions yesterday which were made under the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000.
The director of the equality tribunal, Ms Melanie Pine, published the 15 decisions, nine (involving 16 people) under the Equal Status Act 2000 and six under the Employment Equality Act.
Mr Derek Kelly, who has Down's syndrome, was also found to have been discriminated against by Kelly's Lounge in Bray, Co Wicklow.
Mr Kelly's drink was taken from him and he was told to sit with his mother. The decision was made on grounds of disability.
It was accepted that the treatment of Mr Kelly was wrong and the respondent apologised for the incident.
Kelly's Lounge was ordered to invite Mr Kelly, his mother and four others to visit the pub and provide two free drinks each. Mr Kelly was also awarded €250 in compensation.
A restaurant was ordered to provide complimentary Sunday lunch to Ms Melanie Curtis and three people of her choice when it was found she had been discriminated against on family status grounds.
Ms Curtis was asked to leave the Barn Restaurant (Lotamore Ltd), Cork because she had an eight-month-old baby with her.
Of the six employment case decisions, two were upheld and four were not.
Both cases were upheld on grounds of gender.
Tesco Ireland was ordered to pay a female member of staff the same rate of pay as that of her male colleagues from February 13th, 2001, plus arrears in payment for three years prior to her claim.
Ms Mary Ginley was found to have been discriminated against when she was paid less than two male colleagues doing the same work.
Another case involved a woman who had been sexually harassed by a colleague. She was awarded €15,000 in compensation. The respondent was also ordered to review its policy in dealing with complaints of sexual harassment.
The equality tribunal was established in 1999 to hear complaints of unlawful discrimination under the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Act 2000.
There are nine grounds of discrimination: gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.
Anyone who feels they have been discriminated against unlawfully can refer a claim to the tribunal free of charge.