Latest news with #EqualStatusAct
The Journal
27-05-2025
- The Journal
School ordered to pay €9,000 to male student discriminated against for wearing one earring
A SECONDARY SCHOOL student has been awarded €9,000 in compensation after a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) hearing found that he was the victim of gendered discrimination due to not being allowed to wear one stud earring. The case, which was decided earlier this month, heard that the boy had worn one stud earring to school. This was contrary to the school's Code of Conduct, which stated that one stud earring in each ear were the only piercings allowed, the school's representative argued. The complainant alleged that he was the victim of discrimination on the grounds of gender and sexual orientation. He sought to ground his case under these claims under the Equal Status Act. The boy claimed that he was both directly discriminated against and indirectly, as a girl was more likely to wear an earring in each ear by choice. It was argued that 'what appears a neutral provision is not'. It was further alleged that he was instructed to get a second piercing in his other ear if he wished to wear his current piercing, or else to remove it during school hours or cover the stud with a plaster. Advertisement It was set out in the complainant's submissions that the boy had been subjected to 'public humiliation, left sitting in disgrace outside the Principal's office, removed from his normal classes for long periods… denied the privilege of going down town with his peers during school lunchtime, denied access to a boy's field trip and left to attend a girl's field trip, threatened with after-school detention, had his mother shouted at…', all arising from his lack of cooperation over the issue of the single stud earring. The school rejected his submission and said that any other student, male or female, would have been sanctioned identically. It said that it was not aware of the student's sexual orientation, claiming that the student's case citing harassment as a result was therefore not relevant. The school said that many 'famous men' including footballers and musicians wear stud earrings in both ears. 'There appears to be a suggestion that the requirement to wear two earrings imputes gender fluidity. This allegation is made with absolutely no evidence whatsoever,' the school's submission said. It claimed that the case was simply the student refusing to abide by the Code of Conduct. The WRC Adjudicating Officer Brian Dalton found that the student had been discriminated against on the basis on gender, but not on the basis of sexual orientation. The adjudicating officer ruled that the rule regarding earrings favours females over males. The school was ordered to amend its rule to state that students are permitted to wear only one stud earring in each ear, or one earring in one ear. The school was ordered to pay €9,000 to the student, which is to be held by his mother until he turns 18-years-old. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Irish Times
27-05-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Boy (16) wins €9,000 equality claim over wearing earring at school
A 16-year-old transition year student has won €9,000 in compensation for gender-based discrimination and victimisation after he was punished for wearing an earring to school at the start of term last year. The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ruled that his school's uniform policy was indirectly discriminatory on gender grounds, favouring female students over males by requiring ear studs to be worn in pairs – and has ordered the rule changed. The decision on the boy's claim against the school under the Equal Status Act 2000 was published on Tuesday by the tribunal in anonymised form. The school had denied his claim. The student arrived to school at the start of the new term on August 30th last year with the upper cartilage of his left ear newly pierced and a round silver stud through it, the tribunal heard at hearings in November and December 2024. READ MORE The school considered it to be in breach of the uniform rules in its code of behaviour, which forbids 'all body piercings except one small stud in each ear', the tribunal heard. 'I think their intention is that boys don't wear studs ... I think they know boys won't pierce the other ear because they'll be called gay, they'll be called names. They won't go through the hassle of it, and they'll take it out,' the claimant told the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) at a hearing December last. Asked why he chose to wear the ear stud, the young man said: 'It's my grandad – it's a sense of my personality, following in the footsteps.' The student's solicitor, Gerard Cullen, said his client was presented with choices to either 'remove the stud or pierce the other ear' or complete the three week healing process with a plaster covering the piercing. He called that 'interference with bodily integrity'. Counsel for the school Kevin Roche BL, appearing instructed by Mason Hayes and Curran, said that after the young man instructed a solicitor in the matter, he had been sent a legal letter to say he would be considered to be 'in compliance' if he 'covered the ear with plaster'. He said that had already been offered to the young man, and rejected. The boy's grandmother told the tribunal her husband and all of her sons had worn piercings in their left ears – and that she considered this the usual practice for a man to wear one. A row broke out at a meeting between the boy and his family and the principal and deputy principal on September 4th, 2024, when the claimant's mother and grandmother came to the school, the tribunal heard. The complainant's case is that in the weeks that followed he was subject to sanctions, including being placed sitting outside the principal's office, being denied leave to go down to the town on his lunch break, and being assigned to evening detention which would have meant missing his bus home. The school's position is that it followed its disciplinary code at all times and sought to de-escalate the matter – with its barrister telling the tribunal that the first mention of legal action was on the part the complainant's solicitor. In his decision, adjudicator Brian Dalton wrote that the 'apparently neutral' rule on ear studs was discriminatory on the grounds of gender. He added that since the claimant had complained about that rule being unfair, it followed that the sanctions 'solely arose because of [his] objection to an unfair practice' and amounted to victimisation. Mr Dalton ordered the school to amend its rule on body piercings 'so that it facilitates the wearing of one or two earrings'. He directed the school to pay €9,000 in compensation to the young man.
Irish Times
24-04-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Discrimination complaints against businesses rise substantially
The number of cases taken against businesses at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) for discrimination on the grounds of race, membership of the Traveller community or sexual orientation doubled last year. The cases were taken under the Equal Status Act by members of the public who felt they had been denied service by the businesses involved, or discriminated against by them in other ways. There were 245 such cases taken by members of the Traveller community, according to the WRC's annual report for 2024 which was published on Thursday, an increase of 86 per cent on the previous year. The number of cases taken on the grounds of race was up 115 per cent to 215 while those involving sexual orientation also more than doubled, although the number involved, at 31, was much smaller. There were 192 cases taken in which discrimination on the grounds of disability was alleged and while this too represented an increase, the scale was more modest, at 13 per cent. READ MORE There was an 11 per cent increase in the total number of cases taken under the Employment and Equality Act, which deals with discrimination in the workplace, meanwhile, with those relating to members of the Traveller community or relating to civil status, age or disability all up by more than a fifth when compared to 2023. Complaints about pay and unfair dismissal are still the two leading sources of the commission's work with 3,995 and 2,285 made respectively in relation to the two areas. Discrimination comes third in the list with 2,063 over the course of the year. Abuses of the work permit system also feature prominently in the report. The WRC reports successful prosecutions against 77 businesses in 2024, with about two thirds of them operating in the food services sector and more than 80 per cent including breaches of the Employment Permits Acts. It says its officials participated in more than 300 unannounced inspections of business premises with members of An Garda Síochána and other agencies last year as part of specific Empact (European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats) Labour Exploitation campaigns in April, June and October. More than half of the companies targeted were found to be breaching various employment legislation, commonly relating to permits. Just over a third (34 per cent) of all calls made to the WRC helpline last year related to requests for information or complaints about work permits. About 40,000 permits were issued last year, almost a third of them to allow people from overseas to work in the Irish healthcare sector. Complaints tended to focus on employers operating in the food services, retail and agricultural sectors, however. In all, 5,156 inspections were completed in 2024 with €2.15m recovered in unpaid wages.
