June eZine 2009

Employment Law Round-Up

ERSI : CANDIDATES WITH FOREIGN NAMES FACE DISCRIMINATION

According to a study by the ERSI, job applicants with typical Irish names are twice as likely to be called for interview as those with minority names.  

Across the three sectors of the labour market that were tested, researchers found that candidates with non-Irish names were subjected to “strong discrimination” by employers.  

Even where applicants had equivalent qualifications, there was no significant difference between the minority groups, with African, Asian and German names all twice as likely to be overlooked at the initial recruitment stage as Irish ones. 

The report concluded, “the extent of discrimination observed in this experiment directly contradicts any notions of equality in terms of access to employment.” 

“Individuals with non-Irish backgrounds do not have equal access to the Irish labour market if they are being screened out at the first stage of recruitment.” 

Between March and October last year, researchers sent out pairs of matched CVs in response to 240 job adverts in administration, lower-level accountancy or in retail. The two fictitious applicants had equivalent qualifications, skills and expertise – all gained in Ireland – but while one candidate had an Irish name, the other was Asian, African or German.  

From this, the ERSI calculated; 

According to Richard Fallon, acting chief executive of the Equality Authority, “it does prove that a very old ghost of discrimination still haunts us. You are twice as likely to encounter this spectre with a non-Irish surname than with an identifiably Irish one – that’s even with Irish citizenship and with Irish qualifications.” 

The report suggest a number of measures to help reduce discrimination, these include the provision of more information for employers and workers on equality law. If employers were required to keep all records of job applications for 12 months and to justify their hiring decisions, it would reinforce the pressure to adhere to good practice.