NI Equality Commission guilty of sex discrimination
The Equality Commission of Northern Ireland has been found guilty of sexual discrimination against one of its own staff, it was revealed today.
An industrial tribunal has delivered the embarrassing ruling that the organisation set up to ensure equality of opportunity in employment did not practice what it preached.
There were red faces at the Commission which apologised, accepted their failings, and said a review of relevant policies and practices was currently underway.
It has been ordered to pay compensation to Helen McGowan, one of its legal officers, for injury to her feelings because of its illegal sexual discrimination against her.
Ms McGowan, who remains an employee of the Commission with the rank of staff officer, took two linked cases to the commission over the different treatment she received compared to a male colleague.
The Commission was ordered to pay £1,000 (€1,458) compensation in settlement of the first case and £2,500 (€3,646) for the second.
It was made clear during the hearing that she had suffered no financial loss because of the discrimination.
In its ruling the Industrial Tribunal said the claimant’s case was that a male member of the Commission’s staff, Alden Henderson, who occupied the same grade had been “slotted into” a newly created post without competition.
It said : “Aspects of that newly created post reflected higher status in comparison to her, for instance the fact that Alden Henderson was accorded line management responsibility, that he attended management meetings and that he had his own office.
“Thus, the claimant submitted, she had been treated less favourably and that less favourable treatment was on the grounds of her sex.”
Upholding the claim the tribunal said the Commission’s treatment of Ms McGowan complaints had been “tardy”.
It said the higher award for the second case was because the Commission, after being alerted to Ms McGowan’s grievance at a relatively early date and to the potential for unlawful discrimination, “did nothing to address the grievance over quite a protracted period of time, knowing that the claimant was aggrieved to such an extent as not just to have invoked the internal grievance procedure but also to have instituted the first complaint.”
The tribunal said it unanimously found Ms McGowan had been discriminated against on the grounds of her sex.
Ms McGowan said after the ruling was published: “I am delighted, it speaks for itself.
“I think it is clear the tribunal thought the second complaint was more critical after they had let the whole issue slide.”
The Equality Commission said they regretted they “fell short of the normally effective policies which we have in place to ensure equality of opportunity for all staff and applicants.”
The spokesman added: “While the circumstances that led to this case in 2003 have been resolved we recognise that we have a particular responsibility to promote equality of opportunity.
“We remain committed to the promotion of best practice in the workplace and a review of all relevant policies and practices is currently under way.”
