No Discrimination Claim Where Applicant Did Not Genuinely Want Job

The Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has held in Keane v Investigo and ors UKEAT/0389/09/SM that an individual's job application must be genuine before any detriment under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 can be suffered. Therefore, where a claimant did not genuinely want any of the jobs that she had applied for, she did not suffer age discrimination when she was not considered for them.

Ms Keane, a 51-year-old experienced accountant applied for more than 20 jobs advertised as suitable for recently qualified accountants. She brought claims for age discrimination when she was not offered any interviews. The Employment Tribunal held that Ms Keane's job applications were not genuine and dismissed her claims.

The EAT upheld the Tribunal's decision. An applicant who is not considered for a job in which he or she is not interested cannot be said to have suffered a detriment and could therefore not have been comparatively unfavourably treated (for the purpose of direct discrimination) or put at a disadvantage (for the purpose of indirect discrimination).