Smith v Gauteng Provincial Legislature [2015] 6 BALR 679 (CCMA) per DA Pretorius, Commissioner.
A 52 year old man failed in his application to be employed as a senior researcher. In a default hearing he was awarded R12 000 compensation for age discrimination. He thought his interview went well, but one of the panellists asked him whether ‘an old dog can learn new tricks’. He was subsequently informed that he might have been over-qualified for the job. The Commissioner accepted that the applicant was qualified for the job and the question about “old dogs” indicated that he was discriminated against based simply on age. Because he was ‘unemployed’ with no earnings he had the right in terms of the latest EEA amendments to pursue his claim in the CCMA and not the Labour Court. Age is a listed ground and could not have been an inherent requirement of the job.