Tuesday 09 July 2019
The Committee for Employment & Social Security is seeking the views of the community on their draft policy proposals for multi-ground discrimination legislation.
As part of the 2013 Disability & Inclusion Strategy, the States of Guernsey agreed to develop proposals for disability discrimination legislation. Responsibility for this work transferred to the Committee forEmployment & Social Security in 2016. Work to select 'model' legislation (by comparing the legislation of other countries) in late 2017 and early 2018 led to an expansion of the project to cover multiple grounds of protection which was agreed by the States in June 2018.
The Committee for Employment & Social Security has sought expert advice on international best practice, drawing on Irish and Australian law. The Committee has also engaged with, and invited comments from, local stakeholders in developing their draft proposals.
Today, the Committee forEmployment & Social Security have published their draft policy proposals for new discrimination legislation for consultation. Deputy Le Clerc, President of the Committee, said:
'We are hoping for responses from a wide range of people. Anyone could experience discrimination and we want to hear from individuals about their hopes for the future of this legislation. It is also really important that we hear from the business community because they will have new duties under the legislation to make sure that their services and staff management are inclusive and non-discriminatory. We know that the business community might need some time to prepare, and some of the questions we ask are about timing. This is really important work and I would encourage people to go onto gov.gg and find out more.'
While comments are welcome on any aspect of the draft proposals, the Committee are particularly seeking the views of the community on certain key questions, including:
- The definition of disability proposed;
- When children and young people should be protected from age discrimination;
- Access to rental properties for families with children;
- The framing of the sex and trans status grounds;
- Whether there should be an upper limit on the level of compensation someone can be paid;
- What the Equality & Rights Organisation should do;
- Phasing implementation
- Exceptions where different treatment is not considered unlawful discrimination
The Committee have published a range of documents, which go into different levels of detail. These can be found online at www.gov.gg/discriminationconsultation as well as more information on how you can get involved in the consultation. The consultation will be open until 30th September 2019.
Members of the public are invited to attend a presentation by Deputies Le Clerc and Yerby in order to learn more about the Committee's draft proposals and ask any questions that they may have. The presentation will take place on Monday 15th July at 7.30pm at the Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts. For those who are unable to attend the presentation, it will be live streamed on the States of Guernsey Facebook page.
