The Plaza Hotel in Tallaght has been order to pay £5,000 to a young Traveller woman in compensation for discriminating against her in employment.
In May last year Ms Theresa Nevin applied for a job as accommodation assistant in the hotel. She had learned of the job through Obair, the local employment service network in Clondalkin.
She went to work on May 19th, and was shown how to make beds and clean the bedrooms and bathrooms.
She was shown how to make the beds more than once, and when she finished for that day she was told it was a trial day, and she would be contacted about future work.
This did not materialise, and various attempts by Ms Nevin later to contact the accommodation manager were unsuccessful.
When eventually she did so she was told guest numbers were down and there was no work.
The placement officer in Obair also rang on her behalf, and, he said, was told by the supervisor:
"Theresa did not have the same concept of cleaning as other employees would have, but how could she be expected to given the way they lived."
From August that year until April 2001, Ms Nevin worked as an accommodation assistant in another hotel, where there were no complaints about her work.
In its finding the Office of Equality Investigations found there was no mention of a trial day in any advertisement from the hotel for staff, and it was unknown to the personnel in Obair, who had placed other people in the hotel.
The equality officer in the Office of Equality Investigations said: "I cannot help but conclude that this 'normal practice' is instead applied in a selective fashion."
However, the remark the supervisor was alleged to have made to the Obair placement officer was crucial to the case.
She denied making the remark, but the equality officer said: "I must decide which of these witnesses was the most credible," and concluded it was the placement officer.
Such a comment constitutes discrimination and is illegal. It was found that discrimination did occur and compensation was awarded accordingly.