Job Applications And Age Discrimination

The Equality Tribunal in the Republic of Ireland has recently published its decision in Cunningham v BMS Sales Ltd - an age discrimination claim brought against a recruitment company - which is likely to be relevant in the UK.

The facts of this case were that, at an early stage of the interview process, the claimant was asked to complete a form which had questions relating to his age - including: ‘age’, ‘date of birth’, ‘living with parents/ renting/ mortgaged accommodation’ and ‘number of children’. The claimant pointed out that such questions were ‘irrelevant and invasive’ and refused to answer them. He queried why it was necessary to state his age and date of birth, because it was not relevant to his employment. When he was pressed on this, the claimant gave an incorrect age, but did not give his date of birth. Subsequently, the respondent sought to pursue the issue of his age with the claimant and told him that, without this information, the respondent would not be able to