Age discrimination when a 34-year-old was not allowed to attend a trainee program

Published 19 November 2024 at 08.12

Domestic. It was a matter of age discrimination when a 34-year-old job seeker was told he was too old for a transport company's trainee programme. That assessment is made by DO, which now requests that the company pay SEK 75,000 in discrimination compensation to the man.

Share the article

TwittraShare

The job seeker, who has previously worked in another industry, saw an advertisement for the trainee program on the Employment Service's service Placesbanken. He called the phone number that was in the ad and was then able to speak to a manager at the company.

The man was asked to send in his CV but was told later that day via email that the program was intended for younger people and that there was a maximum limit of 27 years for the intended position.

The company has confirmed the course of events but has stated that the manager in question was not authorized to represent the company. According to the company, the man did not apply for the position properly because he did not follow the instructions in the ad, and therefore believes that they did not discriminate against the man.

The company also stated that there is no strict age limit for the program without the fact that it is intended for people who are new to the industry.

– But the job seeker has, after all, been disadvantaged by the fact that the manager whose number was included in the advertisement has rejected his application for reasons related to age. Nor has the manager in any way suggested that the application should have gone a different way. The fact that there was a more formal application process therefore does not absolve the company of responsibility for the discrimination, says Sandra Danowsky, litigator at DO's legal unit.

The company has until November 22 to pay the requested discrimination compensation of SEK 75,000 . The DO will then submit a lawsuit to the Labor Court.