Joe Duggan (Reporter)
IBERIA has been fined €25,000 for making female job applicants take a pregnancy test.
The Spanish airline, which went into partnership with British Airways in 2010, accepted the fine, which was handed down by the Balearic Islands government.
Iago Negueruela, work, trade and industry secretary for the Balearic Islands government, said Iberia was guilty of a ‘very serious infraction’.
“Any practice of this type must be excluded from the job market,” said Negueruela.
He argued that men and women could not be given different tests for access to work.
Iberia has now said it will axe the requirement, and offer applicants the chance to admit if they are pregnant.
Spain’s Minister for Health, Dolors Montserrat, expressed her ‘absolute rejection of Iberia’s demand’.
“Pregnancy can’t be any kind of obstacle to getting a job,” said Montserrat.
“Any Spanish company shouldn’t have to ask for that kind of personal information from anybody that wants to try for a job.”
The Secretary of trade union CC OO-Balears, Eva Cerdeiriña, argued that a fine of €25,000 is ‘embarrassing; and ‘unacceptable’.
