Complaint under the Equal Status Act 2000
DEC-S2006-052
John Maughan
-v-
The Brock Inn, Dublin
Headnotes
Equal Status Act, 2000 - Direct discrimination, section 3(1)(a) - Membership of the Traveller community, Section 3(2)(i) - Disposal of goods and supply of services, Section 5(1) - Refusal of service in a pub - Prima Facie case.
1. Dispute
1.1 This dispute concerns a claim by John Maughan that he was discriminated against by the respondent, contrary to the Equal Status Act, 2000, on the grounds that he is a member of the Traveller community in that on 12 January 2003, he was refused service in the respondent premises.
The complainant referred a claim to the Director of Equality Investigations under the Equal Status Act 2000. In accordance with her powers under section 75 of the Employment Equality Act 1998 and under the Equal Status Act 2000, the Director then delegated the case to me, Dolores Kavanagh, an Equality Officer, for investigation, hearing and decision and for the exercise of other relevant functions of the Director under Part III of the Equal Status Act.
2 Summary of Complainant's Case.
2.1 The complainant states that he went to the respondent premises on the 12 January, 2003. He was told that he was being refused service because he was associated with an earlier incident involving Travellers. The complainant states that he was not involved in the incident in question and that he was refused because of his Traveller status.
3. Summary of Respondent's Case
3.1 The respondent denies that discrimination occurred and states that the complainant was refused service on the date in question because he was identified as having been a member of a group of Travellers who caused a serious incident on the premises on an earlier occasion. All members of the group were subsequently barred from the premises. Travellers are served on the premises and the complainant had been served on the premises on a regular basis prior to the incident in question.
4 Outcome of Hearing.
4.1 The complainant did not attend at the scheduled Hearing of his complaint on 20 June 2006. I am satisfied that the complainant was properly notified of the Hearing.
5 Decision
5.1 I find that the complainant has failed to establish a prima facie case of discrimination on any of the grounds under the Equal Status Acts.
__________________________
Dolores Kavanagh
Equality Officer
20 June, 2006