Travelco, a travel agency, put in a request for a “Friendly employee” to provide food for its staff. But the Job Center in Bristol told managing director Harry Smith that he would have to remove the word “friendly” before the advertisement could be accepted.
Mr. Smith said he could not believe the decision and thought it was “ridiculous.” He said: “We were told we could not use that particular word because it was discriminatory against people who looked unfriendly. We thought it was ridiculous. It’s only too natural for us to specify what kind of people we want.” He added, “The people at the center have since said they thought they had been a little over the top.”
The center had made it a rule that certain words were nor allowed in ads and the words “motivated” and “enthusiastic” had been banned in the past.
An official of the center said: “We do have guidelines of not using personality characteristics in advertisements to ensure that there is no discrimination in the process.”
She added: “We should leave the dispute to the local judges. They’ll make the final decision. It’s possible that a member of our staff has been over-enthusiastic in cutting out words in ads.”
