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After extensive consultation and work, proposals for new discrimination legislation have been published having been amended and scaled back in some areas.
Employment & Social Security published its initial plans for discrimination legislation last year, but after considerable push back against its 10 grounds of protection, it was announced the details would be refocused.
The new proposals focus on three main areas: race, disability, and carer discrimination.
This means it would be unlawful for an employer or service provider to discriminate on the basis of disability, if a person is an unpaid carer for a disabled person they live with or are related to, or on the basis of race.
Some of the other areas of discrimination have not been dropped entirely though, and ESS said more work is to come on protection from discrimination on the basis of age, sexual orientation and religion.
If approved, the proposals will require legislation to be drafted and for services to be developed to manage complaints of discrimination in these areas. Guidance and training for employers and service providers on their future new responsibilities will also be needed. While a commencement date for making formal complaints has not been set, it is anticipated that this would be during 2022.
Pictured: Employment and Social Security has carried out extensive consultation with the public, businesses, the third sector and key stakeholders throughout the process, and particularly since late 2018.
Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, ESS President, said her committee believed that as well as fulfilling the commitment to develop these proposals in the Disability and Inclusion Strategy, this legislation would demonstrate a commitment to making real the States’ vision that Guernsey should be an inclusive community.
“We know that there are differences of opinion in some areas," she said, "We’ve worked extremely hard to develop a compromise solution that takes into account some of the main concerns from employers, while ensuring the legislation still delivers its objective of protecting people from discrimination. In an effort to find a consensus, we are proposing a cap on the amount an employer or service provider might have to pay in compensation and a change in the definition of disability to clearly rule out claims on the basis of short-term sickness.
"We know that there will still be disagreement over the details of this legislation, but it is essential that we protect people’s fundamental rights as soon as possible. Given the extent of the consultation already carried out, further delays would simply be unfair on the people who would be protected by this legislation. If the States approve the proposals, we will commit to reviewing the operation of the legislation once it’s in place to make sure it’s working appropriately for all concerned.”
Pictured: The Committee's original consultation included 10 grounds of protection, but it was refocused after push back.
While these proposals are scaled back from the original plans, Deputy Le Clrec said they had not forgotten some of the other areas these proposals do not focus on.
This means that there is further work to do on proposals for protection from discrimination on the basis of age, sexual orientation and religious belief. The existing Sex Discrimination (Employment) (Guernsey) Ordinance, 2005 will remain in force for the time being, with the intention that this will also be reviewed at a later stage and incorporated into the new legislation.
This work all started in November 2013 the States of Guernsey resolved as part of the Disability & Inclusion Strategy to develop detailed policy proposals “to prevent discrimination against disabled people and carers and provide for equality of opportunity”.
Pictured: These plans will make it unlawful to discriminate against carers, on grounds of race, or on grounds of disability.
On race discrimination, Deputy Le Clerc said: “The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination was extended to Guernsey around fifty years ago. It’s a requirement of that Convention that people should be legally protected from racial discrimination.
"We think action is very overdue. While we regret that some of the other grounds require more policy work and have had to be delayed, we think protection from race discrimination can realistically be incorporated alongside disability and carers in the first phase of the development of a multi-ground Ordinance. We are recommending that the next Committee for Employment & Social Security continue what we have started and extend the legislation so that discrimination in all forms can be properly addressed. ”
The Committee’s Policy Letter is available to read at: www.gov.gg/StatesMeetings. It has been laid with the intention to hold the debate in April, as Employment & Social Security is very conscious of the mounting workload of significant policy decisions that still need to be made before the end of this political term.
Pictured top: Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, ESS President.
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