12 months of 2022: August

As we reach the end of the year, our 12 Days of Christmas countdown revisits each month's most notable happenings.

During August, Dominos Pizza became entangled in an age discrimination dispute, a café owner showed a complete disregard for women's menstrual health, and workplace support arrived for neurodivergent employees.

Domino's Pizza job candidate awarded £4,000 after being asked age

Janice Walsh won £4,250 from an employment tribunal after being asked her age during an interview for a role at a Domino's Pizza in Northern Ireland. 

The first question Walsh was asked during the interview for a driver position was about her age.

When she enquired to the store later as to why she didn't get the job, she was told that the interview panel were unaware that it was inappropriate to ask someone their age during an interview.

 

Employee asked to wear period sticker shows need for workplace boundaries

An Australian café owner phoned into a local radio station to voluntarily tell them how he asked women to wear a red sticker at work to signify they were on their period. 

He told the station his justification for such an action, saying: "If someone is learning to drive a car right, they stick an L-plate on the car. That’s not for their benefit, it’s for the people around them to give them some space and not toot the horn, and stress the person out. It’s very difficult for guys to understand when someone’s going through a bit of a rough patch."

 

First government-backed neurodivergent work support programme launched in UK

Neurodiversity charity Salvesen Mindroom Centre launched its Neuroinclusion at Work programme in Scotland - the first UK government-backed support programme for neurodivergent workers.

One of 13 projects funded by the Scottish government's Workplace Equality Fund, the scheme aims to reach one million workers by 2026.

 

Best of HR magazine from August 2022:

Sky employee wins discrimination case against diversity officer

Why it's time to stop ghosting candidates

Rees-Mogg slams diversity officers as "by the woke, for the woke"