Birmingham-based JWR said it was at fault for listing a £125,000-a-year general manager vacancy at the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Co Down, the Irish News reports. .
One of Northern Ireland’s most famous hotels, it reopened after a refurbishment in September last year.
American owner AJ Capital Partners, which bought the hotel from the Hastings family, said the popular hotel would reopen under the Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts brand and offer four restaurants.
The renovation work is reported to have cost £16 million.
Marine & Lawn specializes in hotels and resorts on what the company calls “some of the world’s most popular golf courses.”
The Equality Commission said the requirement that candidates “have worked on the island of Ireland or be of Irish descent” could amount to unlawful discrimination on racial grounds.
A spokesperson for the body that oversees Northern Ireland’s equality and discrimination laws told the Irish News: “It is generally unlawful for employers in Northern Ireland to set job selection criteria that discriminate against job applicants on racial grounds, including: nationality, ethnicity or nationality; I’m from.
“According to the information provided, in our opinion, the mentioned job selection criteria constitute potentially unlawful discrimination on racial grounds.
“We advise this employer to reconsider its reasons for including this criterion.”
A spokesperson for Marine & Lawn said: “The advertisements referenced have not been approved by Marine & Lawn Hotels & Resorts.
“As a brand, we celebrate inclusivity and do not discriminate based on race or geography.
“This ad was immediately removed and Marine & Loan has distanced itself from the agency that posted it.”
In response to an interview with the Irish News, a JWR representative accepted responsibility for the wording of the list and apologized.
The ad was removed from the website on Friday night.
The Equality Commission said it was illegal for employers to publish job advertisements that contained unlawfully racist recruitment criteria, but third parties could also be held liable.
A spokesperson said: “It is also illegal for a person to publish discriminatory advertisements for an employer if the publisher of such advertisements is a third party, such as a newspaper or job site.
“Furthermore, job seekers who feel disadvantaged by this standard have the right to bring a racial discrimination claim to the Labor Court.”