HOTEL RECEPTIONIST AWARDED £20,500 IN SEX DISCRIMINATION CASE

Anna Owens, a receptionist at the Westville Hotel in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, has been awarded almost £20,500 following an industrial tribunal ruling on indirect sex discrimination. Owens had agreed a fixed three-day working week before taking the position, an arrangement she said was made verbally and enabled her to manage childcare alongside employment. After a new general manager was appointed, she was instructed to work a fully flexible seven-day rota in the interests of fairness to other staff, despite being the only receptionist with childcare responsibilities.

Owens worked the agreed three-day pattern for more than 18 months, with occasional changes made when she received sufficient notice and could arrange childcare. When she informed the new manager that she had a fixed-hours agreement in place and could not accommodate the flexible rota due to her childcare arrangements, she was told her childcare needs were her own responsibility and not the hotel's concern. Despite raising grievances through the employer's formal process, the agreed working pattern was not restored, leading to reduced hours and earnings before Owens resigned.

The tribunal found that requiring Owens to work a fully flexible seven-day rota placed her at particular disadvantage because of her childcare responsibilities, and concluded this amounted to unlawful indirect sex discrimination. The employer had failed to justify the requirement as a proportionate means of meeting legitimate business needs, the tribunal determined. The Westville Hotel stated it was "genuinely sorry" that Owens' employment had ended as it did.