AQW 23857/22-27

Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 05/03/2025
Answered On Date: 19/03/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy to detail how her Department is seeking to tackle age discrimination in job interviews.

Answer:

Employers have a duty under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 to ensure that they do not treat an individual less favourably on any grounds related to their age, including in job interviews. This legislation is the responsibility of the Department for Communities.

My Department is responsible for the Labour Relations Agency (LRA) and it tackles recruitment related age discrimination through the provision of published recruitment and discrimination advice, guidance and best practice, along with various webinars and training events that specifically tackle this issue. The LRA also provides a conciliation service that can help those who believe they have been treated less favourably by employers on grounds relating to age to conciliate a related dispute. My Department also provides funding and Secretariat support for the Office of Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal (OITFET). These tribunals are independent judicial bodies that decide claims about employment, including where an individual feels that they have been treated less favourably at a job interview in relation to their age.