BOSSES beware. Already concerned about being accused of racism, sexism or ageism, managers now need to be wary of trampling on the rights of the fresh-faced new guy or girl in the office.

According to the Equality Tribunal, young people make up an increasing proportion of the 11% of age-related discrimination cases.

The tribunal has awarded Ciara O’Brien, a Dublin woman, more than €25,000 after finding that her employer discriminated against her on grounds of age and gender. Frank Quinn, the chairman of the company, called her a “silly girl”.

In 2003, O’Brien, then 23, had been working as a journalist for Quinn’s magazine PC Live! for a year when she was promoted to assistant editor. But O’Brien stayed on her starting salary of €20,300 a year. Her predecessor, an older male, had been paid €26,300.

Quinn, who made almost €10m from the sale of jobfinder.ie in 2000, said there was no increase in O’Brien’s pay because of a company pay freeze.

But Mary Rogerson, a tribunal officer, ruled that there was “no objective justification for the difference in pay” and that Quinn’s company had failed to rebut the charges of discrimination on gender and age grounds.

Rogerson also upheld a claim that O’Brien was victimised for making her complaint. This ruling was based in part on a meeting with the editor of PC Live! at which Quinn asked O’Brien’s boss to “use whatever influence he had to convince her not to proceed”. The editor’s notes of the meeting show Quinn describing O’Brien as a “silly girl”.

As well as awarding O’Brien more than €25,000 in compensation and back pay, the tribunal calls on Quinn to draft an equal opportunities policy for his staff.

Quinn said his company is appealing the verdict to the Labour Court. “We are bewildered that the tribunal found we have discriminated,” he said. “All our staff are treated fairly and some of our most senior managers are women. It is a fact of life that experience is an important factor and makes a difference to what you are paid.”

Asked if he had referred to O’Brien as a “silly girl”, Quinn replied: “I honestly don’t remember saying that. It may have been a colloquial reference that was taken out of context.”

O’Brien, who now works as a freelance technology writer, said she was delighted with the verdict. Hers was the first time the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) backed an age discrimination case in the republic.

“People might think I’m a troublemaker, but I’m not,” she said. “Part of the reason I took the case is to show that young people shouldn’t be discriminated against. Once you have the experience or the qualification you shouldn’t be treated worse because of your age or sex.”

O’Brien, who teaches kick-boxing part-time, hopes her case will highlight that other young workers face discrimination. “It should alert people that it’s not right for employers to treat people differently just because they are younger. I don’t think many know that is against the law,” said O’Brien.

Nicola Coleman, an NUJ official, expects the Labour Court to uphold the tribunal’s finding. “There was a prima- facie case of discrimination,” she said. “There was no reason why she was paid less than her older male colleague, bar the fact that she is a young female.”

While Ireland has had legislation covering age discrimination since 1999, Britain has only enacted similar laws this month.

The National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) welcomed Rogerson’s ruling, saying it was important to show that ageism affected young people as well as old. “There are employers who think young people have to go through a right of passage no matter what experience or skills they have,” said spokeswoman Sarah Gahan.

NYCI are lobbying to have the Equality Act’s lower age cut-off reduced below the current 18 years. “It is ridiculous this law only protects those 18 and over,” Gahan said. “If this girl was 17 and discriminated against, she couldn’t bring a case. It is like legislating against racism but saying it doesn’t cover blacks.”

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