Shannon hotel ordered to pay €25,000 for age‑discrimination dismissal

The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) has ordered CG Hotels Limited trading as Park Inn by Radisson Shannon Airport to pay €25,000 compensation to former employee Rajamohan Pillay after finding he was dismissed on age grounds.

Adjudicator Ewa Sobanska ruled under section 77 of the Employment Equality Act 1998 that Pillay’s termination on 12 January 2025, when he turned 66, constituted unlawful age discrimination. The award equals one year’s net wages.

Pillay, who had worked as a Food & Beverage Assistant at the Shannon airport hotel since 2011 at €13.50 gross per hour, argued he was fit, healthy and needed to continue working to meet mortgage commitments. He said other staff over 66 had previously been retained.

CG Hotels Ltd contended that the firm’s normal contractual retirement age was 65 and that two older workers were Ukrainian refugees allowed to stay on until September 2025. Sobanska rejected the defence, noting no clear evidence that a compulsory retirement age had been properly communicated and that any such policy must be objectively justified.

The decision underscores that mandatory retirement ages are discriminatory unless an employer can demonstrate a legitimate, proportionate aim.

Source: Limerick Post. Photo: Jan van der Wolf / Pexels.