The fashionable green company Ecostore says it's making sure an Auckland shop manager knows what discrimination is after giving a job to a man instead of a woman applicant because he was physically strong and heavy lifting was involved.
Seven Sharp reported Auckland mother Jessica Barnes was mortified to hear back from Ecostore in an email that they'd hired a man for the casual retail job instead of her.
"We ended up hiring a male who suited the role really well. Also, we are happy to have someone physically strong on board with us, as quite a lot of heavy lifting is involved for this weekend role," the email read.
Ecostore, which sells environmentally-friendly cleaning products for the body and home, told Seven Sharp the company is "incredibly sorry for the offence and hurt that it caused to the candidate and the wider community".
It said it has spoken to the shop manager and explained the seriousness of the situation, and has taken additional steps to ensure that she's fully aware of what discrimination is.
Employment law expert Max Whitehead says the issue for Ms Barnes is not gender, but strength.
"What Jessica's saying is that it's sexist, offensive and rude in terms of the rejection of her applying for the role," he said.
"If she's going to take litigation she wants to be careful, because it bites you. If you got it wrong, you could end up having to pay their legal costs."
He says discrimination isn't straightforward.
Some things employers can't discriminate against - age, sex, gender, religion and physical disability.
But it is still permissible to discriminate against some other things.
"If you find that you're interviewing someone that you don't find aesthetically pleasing - yes I mean ugly - then you could discriminate on that lawfully," Mr Whitehead said.
"I you found someone that you're interviewing that was fat and you don't want fat people in your business you can discriminate lawfully. Those things were absolutely abhorrent to our society," he said.
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