Editor’s note: This article was first published in February 2011, and the fine amount and the way Spain’s equality law was applied to job ads reflect that time.
A company in Seville can’t believe it’s being called to account over a job ad it posted on the well-known job portal Infojobs.net. The ad was simply looking for a programmer, but because of a single letter this businessman could face a fine of more than €6,000.
According to the labour inspectorate, the ad should have read “programador/a wanted” (in Spanish, “programador” is the masculine form; “programador/a” covers both men and women), because otherwise the company is assumed to be breaching the equality law with a “touch” of sexism.
The labour inspectorate has summoned this businessman to appear in person with all the required paperwork and, of course, the contract of the person who was finally hired for the job.
This businessman, who prefers to keep his name and his company private for fear of reprisals from the labour inspectorate, didn’t put up any resistance and has already gone to the relevant offices, explaining that it hadn’t occurred to him that he could be pursued like this, under threat of a fine, over such nonsense.
In my personal opinion, and without wanting to sound too flippant, I think they’re going too far with the equality laws, and I honestly believe they’re being used as one more revenue-raising measure, since the money from the fine doesn’t go to the working women’s association.
On the other hand, I believe a business owner should be able to decide whether to hire a man or a woman, and nobody should come into his home, his business, the company he created, to tell him what to put in an ad, let alone whom to hire.
See also: 5 reasons NOT to look for a job and to start your own business instead
I also find it completely outrageous that a busy person should be made to lose a day simply because the people in those offices have nothing better to do. If they want to see discrimination, they should go to El Corte Inglés (Spain’s biggest department store chain), whose favourite job ad is “dependienta wanted” (the feminine form of “shop assistant”). Shouldn’t that ad say “dependienta/e”? Or is it only women who feel discriminated against?
The fact is that the real headline should be: “Labour inspectorate makes a businessman lose a day’s work and doesn’t compensate him.”
Still, when dealing with public bodies it’s better to grin and bear it than to protest, so from now on, take great care with your job ads and, above all, be careful not to hire a whole workforce of the same sex, because there are “people” who use it as a way of raising revenue.
Further reading
- The tax agency will start seizing cats, dogs and pets
- New DGT speed camera: road safety or revenue raising?
- New revenue-raising measures from town councils
- Abuses we should report but never do
Featured image: Jonathan Schilling, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
