The woman accused the Strabane franchise and its previous owner of discrimination. (Representational)
A woman in Northern Ireland who was asked her age at a Domino's Pizza delivery driver job interview won £4,250 (about Rs. 3.7 lakh) in compensation. According to a report in BBC, the woman, Janice Walsh, thought she was passed over for the position because of her age and sex. She asserts that the interviewer at the Domino's Pizza franchise in Strabane, County Tyrone, questioned her about her age at the outset of the conversation.
She accused the Strabane franchise and its previous owner, Justin Quirk, of discrimination. Mr Quirk offered Ms Walsh £4,250 in compensation and apologised for the incident.
Ms Walsh claimed that during her interview, the first thing that was brought up was her age. Eventually, she discovered that her application for the position had been unsuccessful. She said that after being rejected for the job, the interview and the age-related issue came to her mind. She added that she thought the interview panel's choice was impacted by her age.
Then, Ms Walsh sent a Facebook message to the store explaining that she felt she had faced age discrimination. She received a call from an interview panelist who apologised. She was informed that they were unaware it was inappropriate to ask about someone's age during a job interview.
Later, during a conversation with another Domino's employee, Ms Walsh learned that younger workers, between the ages of 18 and 30, were typically more suited for the nature of the work.
Ms Walsh thought that she was also a victim of gender-based discrimination. She claimed that she was passed up for a driving role because she was a woman. She claimed that Domino's kept running job ads for drivers even after the interviews.
The Northern Ireland Equality Commission backed Ms Walsh in her legal battle. The chief legal officer for the commission, Mary Kitson, emphasised the significance of businesses of all sizes being familiar with the fundamentals of equality law. She said that to keep the employer on the right side of the law, those involved in recruitment and selection should be aware of how people are protected by the legislation.
According to the BBC report, in a statement, Domino's claimed that because they used a franchising system, store employment and recruitment was the franchisee's duty.
The franchisee in question then left the system due to other events, and the Strabane store is now run by new management, according to them. They added that they took a lot of pride in having a diverse and inclusive workforce.