From Ageism to Age Equality: Addressing the Challenges ...

membership of the Traveller community. The age ground under the Employment Equality Acts appliesto all ages above the maximum age at which a person is statutorily obliged to attend school. The ageground under the Equal Status Acts applies to people over 18 except for the provision of car insuranceto licensed drivers under that age. Both Acts prohibit discrimination. Discrimination has a specificmeaning in the Acts. It is defined as the treatment of a person in a less favourable way than anotherperson is, has been or would be treated in a comparable situation on any of the nine grounds whichexists, existed, may exist in the future or is imputed to the person concerned. Different types ofdiscrimination are covered including indirect discrimination and discrimination by association.Indirect discrimination happens where there is less favourable treatment by impact or effect. It occurswhere people are, for example, refused a service not explicitly on account of a discriminatory reasonbecause of a provision, practice or requirement which they find hard to satisfy. If the provision, practiceor requirement puts people who belong to one of the nine grounds at a particular disadvantage, thenthe service providers will have indirectly discriminated unless the provision is objectively justified by alegitimate aim and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.Discrimination by association happens where a person associated with another person who belongsto one of the nine grounds is treated less favourably because of that association.Both Acts prohibit sexual harassment and harassment on the discriminatory grounds. Victimisation isalso prohibited. Both Acts require employers, educational and training bodies, service providers andproviders of accommodation to provide reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities.There is an exemption from this requirement under the Employment Equality Acts if the reasonableaccommodation imposes a disproportionate burden on the employer, and under the Equal Status Acts5if the reasonable accommodation costs more than a nominal cost. Both Acts allow positive action.Under the Employment Equality Acts employers can take steps with a view to ensuring full equalityin practice between employees on all nine grounds. Under the Equal Status Acts positive action isallowed in relation to disadvantaged groups and in relation to measures which cater for the specialneeds of persons.Both Acts impose a vicarious liability on employers and service providers in relation to discriminatoryacts of employees and agents unless the employers or service providers took reasonably practicablesteps to prevent the discriminations. Such steps should include putting in place equality policies andprocedures to seek to prevent discrimination and harassment, and to address these issues if they arise.Both Acts contain a number of detailed exemptions. In the Employment Equality Acts these includeexemptions that allow an employer to set different ages for the retirement of employees and to set aminimum age, not exceeding 18 years, in recruitment. In the Equal Status Acts these include astatutory exemption that provides that nothing in the Act shall prohibit the taking of any action thatis required under statutory provision or court order.The provisions and the exemptions in these Acts have to be read in the light of the EU EqualTreatment Directives which take precedence over Irish legislation. 11 Information booklets on the legislation are available from The Equality Authority, 2 Clonmel St, Dublin 2 or LoCall1890 245545.From Ageism to Age Equality: Addressing the Challenges