Supermarket chain Albert Heijn has been found guilty of age discrimination by specifying that some jobs are for students and school pupils, regional newspaper the Gelderlander said on Friday.

The paper said the Dutch Institute for Human Rights had ruled the adverts breached anti-age discrimination legislation. The ruling has not yet been formally published.

The case was brought by Ieder1Gelijk, an equal opportunities organisation based in Gelderland.

The organisation took action when it received a complaint about an AH branch in Nijmegen which specifically asked students to apply for the job of checkout cashier while another branch carried a notice which said ‘If you are 16-17, please come in and ask for an application form’. Both instances constitute age discrimination, Ieder1Gelijk maintained.

The supermarket chain responded by saying that the jobs concerned are usually filled by students and that anyone can apply regardless of age, the paper writes.

The human rights institute specified that jobs of over twelve hours a week which require certain skills cannot be aimed specifically at students

AH has said it is prepared to be more explicit about vacancies which are specifically aimed at students because of the level of pay, the fact they require little training and can be combined with school work, the Gelderlander said.