Is this discrimination

dbnavan

I was reading my local paper the other day and noticed a job advert, completely in another language(polish, I think), and I wondered is that not discriminating against the main population of this country that speak English.

It may however be the case that polish is required for the position however judging by the company I doubt it would be a requirement.

InFront

No, it isnt. It may be incinvenient to some people, but people are essentially free to converse in whatever language they choose, this includes ads.

CuLT

Sweet.

IT companies and computer shops should put out their ads in leetspeak.

Heyes

Most companies when advertising would use the company lingo, so i suppose i cant see any problem with the case above, obviously polish language must be required. If its not well then i can see a problem with confining the advertisment to just polish speakers, as there is no reason for it.

Baggly

yeah, i mean if they said they were looking for a particular age or race, then they would be in trouble.

pyramuid man

CuLT wrote:

Sweet.

IT companies and computer shops should put out their ads in leetspeak.

Sorry but that is just retarded.
IT companies are looking for professionals and not 5kr1p7 k1dd135 (script kiddies)

1337 5p33k is the lowest form of computer literacy. Nearly wrs thn txt spk.

Dyr

Cheap, exploitable labour required, no irish need apply, would be an accurate translation of the ad i bet :rolleyes:

Dave!

No. This thread is stupid.

Wishbone Ash

LOTP wrote:

yeah, i mean if they said they were looking for a particular age or race, then they would be in trouble.

Apologies for being pedantic but they would only be in trouble if the job could be carried out by a person of any age or race. If a modeling company or a film company reqiured a tall elderly black male, for example, then they would be legally entitled to advertise for one.

CuLT

pyramuid man wrote:

Sorry but that is just retarded.
IT companies are looking for professionals and not 5kr1p7 k1dd135 (script kiddies)

1337 5p33k is the lowest form of computer literacy. Nearly wrs thn txt spk.

Of course it's retarded.

Hobbes

Technically writing it in polish was trying to get only Polish people. You should post it here (sans contact info) and get it translated.

Angels

dbnavan wrote:

I was reading my local paper the other day and noticed a job advert, completely in another language(polish, I think), and I wondered is that not discriminating against the main population of this country that speak English.

It may however be the case that polish is required for the position however judging by the company I doubt it would be a requirement.

Thats really weird DB was that your local newspaper by any chance?? im saying this cause my local paper did the exact same thing last week. I don't think it's discriminating but it's encouraging people from other countries to be lazy & not have to learn our language.

Wishbone Ash

The OP dosen't state whether the ad was also published in English. I presume it wasn't but maybe he will confirm.

antSionnach

Angels wrote:

I don't think it's discriminating but it's encouraging people from other countries to be lazy & not have to learn our language.

Er if they didnt want to learn "your language" why would they buy the fecking newspaper

CuLT

antSionnach wrote:

Er if they didnt want to learn "your language" why would they buy the fecking newspaper

To look at the pictures and foreign ads!

kaizersoze

Could be advertising for an interpreter. If you couldn't read the ad you wouldn't be much use to them.

Shellie13

so supposing your a blind ragin racist and you advertise in irish?! That discrimination...

Ok chances are NOONE at all will be able or wanna apply but ye?!

Supercell

No, no it isn't why the heck would you think you have anything at all to offer the job advertiser that clearly wants someone speaking another language ?!!

pork99

I believe that the employmernt equality act of 1998 - which outlaws employment discrimination on the gounds of age, marital status and gender also outlaws discrimination on the grounds of nationality. Only yhe defence forces and emergency services are exempt.

I think so anyway - I'm off to tesco to get something for dinner - someone else look it up if they've nothing better to do

Black Swan

It should have been written in English (and perhaps Irish), and then state that Polish was required to do the job (if in fact it was required)? If Polish is not required, it would be discrimination; i.e., nationality. (This is not a legal opinion)

Chinafoot

pork99 wrote:

I believe that the employmernt equality act of 1998 - which outlaws employment discrimination on the gounds of age, marital status and gender also outlaws discrimination on the grounds of nationality. Only yhe defence forces and emergency services are exempt.

Who says the person applying has to be from Poland (assuming that was the language) ? Perhaps there are some Irish people who speak Polish? Stranger things have happened.

InFront

Blue_Lagoon wrote:

It should have been written in English (and perhaps Irish), and then state that Polish was required to do the job (if in fact it was required)? If Polish is not required, it would be discrimination; i.e., nationality. (This is not a legal opinion)

As far as I can see this was just a small ad, theres hardly any need to go bilingual on it!!

I can see what you mean, but that isnt discrimination in legal terms. If I want to put out an ad in French on say the Indo, theres nothing stopping me as long as the paper is okay with it. I might not be reaching the available audience, but hey, thats my problem. Its not a question of laws, anybody is entitled to do this.

Morlar

Whatever about the point being made that this is legal - the fact remains that it does discriminate against irish people who may be interested in that position and it discriminates in favour of polish people.

faceman

it already sounds like an ad i wouldnt be interested in so im not too worried about it! lol

InFront

Morlar wrote:

the fact remains that it does discriminate against irish people who may be interested in that position and it discriminates in favour of polish people.

No it does not!:mad:
The "fact" as you call it, is that it is readable only by Polish speakers or people with a grasp of that language. It is not readable by English speakers, who you might argue are discriminated against.

It has nothing to do with nationality!! Irish people can speak polish if they so wish!

lostexpectation

dbnavan wrote:

I was reading my local paper the other day and noticed a job advert, completely in another language(polish, I think), and I wondered is that not discriminating against the main population of this country that speak English.

It may however be the case that polish is required for the position however judging by the company I doubt it would be a requirement.

how does on sum up the meaning behind GO **** YOURSELF eloquently without getting banned?

Chinafoot

Morlar wrote:

Whatever about the point being made that this is legal - the fact remains that it does discriminate against irish people who may be interested in that position and it discriminates in favour of polish people.

Eh no.

It is most likely a position that requires Polish (or whatever language it was) to be spoken. Anyone who speaks the language could apply for the job, provided they meet all the other criteria of course, and that could be Irish people too. Not everyone in this country speaks only English.

Had the ad said "Polish people need only apply" then yes, it would be discriminating on the grounds of nationality. It doesn't, so you're wrong.

CuLT

CuLT wrote:

Sweet.

IT companies and computer shops should put out their ads in leetspeak.

hahaha

Morlar

InFront wrote:

No it does not!:mad:
The "fact" as you call it, is that it is readable only by Polish speakers or people with a grasp of that language. It is not readable by English speakers, who you might argue are discriminated against.

It has nothing to do with nationality!! Irish people can speak polish if they so wish!

Meanwhile on earth . . Unless you want to get in to the most pedantic conversation in the history of boards .ie

Irish people speak english (some speak Irish too) polish people speak poilish (some speak english too).

Therefore an advert in polish only is readable by ALL polish people (technically a very few Irish people speak polish too) and is inaccessible to english speaking Irish people. In that way it does discriminate against the local population of english speaking Irish people.

solskjaer20

There is some streets not too far from me with English, Irish and Postuguese on the signs.

InFront

solskjaer20 wrote:

There is some streets not too far from me with English, Irish and Postuguese on the signs.

Thats the most interesting thing Ive read in this entire thread!!

FranknFurter

Companies and small buisnesses are entitled to advertise in any language they choose. If they choose to advertise in polish there is nothing to say they cannot.

Now if they were to advertise and *state* somthing like "Blind people need not apply" or "Polish Nationals only" that would be different as regards the legislations. But unless that is stated, nope.

If you are interested in the job you can *learn* fluent polish, then you could claim you were discrimitated against as you posess the required skill, you cannot learn howto be a different race or gender etc.

The equal status legislation does not apply unless it is a job you are capable of in the first place.

b

InFront

Morlar wrote:

Meanwhile on earth . . Unless you want to get in to the most pedantic conversation in the history of boards .ie

Irish people speak english (some speak Irish too) polish people speak poilish (some speak english too).

Therefore an advert in polish only is readable by ALL polish people (technically a very few Irish people speak polish too) and is inaccessible to english speaking Irish people. In that way it does discriminate against the local population of english speaking Irish people.

Exactly. But it doesnt stop them from applying for the job, all it takes is a phone call (were the numbers in polish too?:D ) so you show us whats wrong here Morlar. Are you worried that the advertiser isnt reaching a large enough audience?

Chinafoot

Morlar wrote:

Meanwhile on earth . . Unless you want to get in to the most pedantic conversation in the history of boards .ie

Irish people speak english (some speak Irish too) polish people speak poilish (some speak english too).

Therefore an advert in polish only is readable by ALL polish people (technically a very few Irish people speak polish too) and is inaccessible to english speaking Irish people. In that way it does discriminate against the local population of english speaking Irish people.

However it does not discriminate on the grounds of nationality, which is what you claimed. The ability to speak a language is not necessarily directly related to your nationality. Irish students learn French, German, Spanish and Latin, to name but a few, in their schools. They could therefore apply for a job that had their chosen language as a requirement, if they were good enough. You see it all the time on the jobs websites.."Call centre requires Swedish speakers" etc, etc. Is that discriminating against those who don't speak Swedish?

We don't know what the position was for. It is a real possibility that the language was a requirement. If it had been printed in English and said "Applicant must be able to speak Polish" would you still see that as discrimination?

Morlar

In call centres the positions which are advertised as 'X language required' - its safe to assume that that language is a skill which is required for the role. In the above example there is no reason to presume that.

If thats a position being advertised - as an example - on an Irish building site or even working in a spar - and the advertisement is carried only in polish - then yes it does discriminate against all non polish speaking Irish people (which is the majority of Irish people).