Equality and Discrimination 2024

Discrimination in the Workplace/While Looking for Work

Respondents were asked about whether they had experienced discrimination in the workplace or while looking for work, if applicable, in the two years prior to interview. Note that people who are currently not in employment may have experienced discrimination while looking for work or in the workplace in the two years before the survey was conducted. Similarly, people who were in employment at the time of the survey being carried out in Quarter 3 2024, may have experienced discrimination while looking for work in the two years prior to interview.

Work-related discrimination was separated into two settings:

• In the workplace - while in a job, going for a promotion, or getting equal pay
• Looking for work - for example when applying for work, interview process, selection process, etc.

For the purposes of presenting the data collected on work-related discrimination, analysis of discrimination in the workplace will be presented first, followed by discrimination experienced while looking for work.

The Employment Equality Acts and Equal Status Acts prohibit discrimination on specific grounds. Generally, discrimination occurs where one person is treated less favourably than another person in a comparable situation, because they differ under any of the grounds for discrimination including gender, civil/marital status, family/carer status, socio-economic background, religion, sexual orientation, age, disability, race, membership of the Traveller community, or criminal conviction.

Please refer to the Background Notes for information on the protected grounds for discrimination under Irish equality legislation.

Three times as many Transgender/Non-Binary People as Cisgender Experienced Discrimination in the Workplace

At an overall level, some 7% of people felt discriminated against in the workplace, an increase of one percentage point on Quarter 1 2019 when the survey was last carried out (See Table 3.1 and Equality and Discrimination 2019).

Analysis of the survey results by gender identity shows that people who identified as transgender/non-binary were three times more likely than cisgender people to experience discrimination in the workplace: 22% of transgender/non-binary people experienced such discrimination compared with just 7% of cisgender people.

Experience of discrimination in the workplace was also high for gay/lesbian people (22%) compared with just 7% of straight/heterosexual people. One in seven (14%) bisexual people experienced discrimination of some form in the workplace in the previous two years (See Figure 3.1 and Table 3.1).

One in Seven People of Black Background Experienced Discrimination in the Workplace

Analysis by ethnicity shows that more than one in seven (14%) people from Black Irish/Black African/other Black backgrounds experienced discrimination in the workplace compared with just 6% of people whose ethnicity was White Irish (See Table 3.1).

The most common ground cited for perceived discrimination in the workplace was on the grounds of race, which includes a person's skin colour, racial origin, ethnic group, and nationality (27%), followed by gender (includes gender identity, gender expression, sex characteristics, etc.) at 24%. More than one in five (21%) said they felt they were discriminated against in the workplace on the grounds of socio-economic background, such as their accent, address, socio-economic status, etc.

For almost seven in ten (66%) of those who experienced workplace discrimination, this occurred on a few occasions, while it had happened frequently over the previous two years for one in six (17%). Almost half (48%) said the discrimination they experienced had some effect on their lives, while almost one-fifth (19%) said that it had a serious effect on their lives (See Figure 3.2 and Table 3.3).

Bullying/Harassment Most Common Reported Type of of Discrimination

Respondents who had experienced discrimination in the workplace in the previous two years (prior to interview) were asked about their perceived focus of this discrimination. Bullying or harassment (35%) followed by work conditions (26%) were the most commonly reported areas of discrimination in the workplace for respondents.

Respondents were also asked about their perceived grounds for this workplace discrimination. Some 37% of respondents who had experienced discrimination on promotion/access to promotion cited their family/carer status (such as pregnant or with children or other dependants) as a principal ground for such discrimination. Almost one in five (24%) cited age, while 23% felt their socio-economic background (such as address, accent, level of education, type of housing, employment status, or any other similar circumstance) was a factor in limiting their access to promotions or promotional opportunities. Almost three in ten (28%) had also cited socio-economic background as a ground for their discrimination in relation to pay (salary, bonuses, salary increase, etc.) (See Table 3.4).

Note: Respondents could choose more than one option.

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Experienced Most by Younger Workers

Younger workers were most likely to experience sexual harassment in the workplace. Approximately 16% of respondents aged 18 to 24 years experienced sexual harassment at work within the previous two years, while one in twelve (8%) people in the 25 to 34 years age group experienced this type of workplace discrimination.

Just 1% of people aged 45 to 54 years cited sexual harassment in the workplace as the type of discrimination they experienced in the two years prior to interview. For this age group, bullying or harassment was the main focus for discrimination that they experienced (41%). Younger people had experienced bullying or harassment too. More than four in ten (42%) aged 25 to 34 years and some 35% of workers aged 18 to 24 years experienced bullying or harassment in the workplace (See Table 3.5).

Experience of Discrimination while Looking for Work Highest for Irish Travellers/Roma

At an overall level, some 4% of respondents aged 18 years and over experienced discrimination while looking for work in the two years prior to interview, a decrease of one percentage point on Quarter 1 2019, when the survey was last carried out (See Table 3.6 and Equality and Discrimination 2019).

Discrimination while looking for work was most felt in the Irish Traveller/Roma community. Some 16% of respondents in these ethnic minority groups experienced discrimination in the previous two years while looking for work, compared with just 3% of people whose ethnicity was White Irish. One in eight (12%) of Black Irish/Black African/other Black background experienced discrimination while looking for work.

Analysis by sexual orientation and gender identity also shows that non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people experienced discrimination most when looking for work. One in seven (14%) people whose sexual orientation was bisexual experienced discrimination of some form when looking for work, as did one in nine (12%) gay/lesbian people, compared with just 4% of heterosexuals. Similarly, discrimination experienced by transgender/non-binary people (8%) was twice that experienced by cisgender people (4%) (See Table 3.6).

Analysis by age group shows that younger people aged 18 to 24 years experienced most discrimination (7%) while looking for work in the previous two years compared with just 3% of people aged 45 to 64 years (See Table 3.7).