Workplace discrimination laws coming

The days of employees waiting until the dismissal stage before their complaints of workplace discrimination can be legally addressed, will soon be a thing of the past.

This is because Government is close to bringing legislation to Parliament, similar to the recent sexual harassment laws, that will ensure a zero-tolerance approach to discrimination, Minister of Labour Colin Jordan, has revealed.

This morning Jordan told Barbados TODAY that as part of the requirement under the proposed laws, companies would be obligated to establish a policy to address discrimination in the workplace.

“The essence is that we want to avoid situations where people for whatever reason are discriminated against. We saw this in the early days of HIV and AIDS and in more recent times, persons with disabilities. What we are trying to do is create the legislative framework that can stand firm on the fact that we do not allow in workplaces, that kind of discrimination to take place,” said Jordan.

He added, “If you do not legislate it then organisations can decide how they would operate. We have come to the point where people who work in a place must feel that they are not going to be picked on and discriminated against. This goes hand in hand with the ILO [International Labour Organisation] convention C90. So a person coming to work should not be subject to violence, harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination, it is all a package.”

He noted that currently there is no legislation which speaks to discrimination but usually evidence of it is borne out during cases of unfair dismissal.

“There is only legislation that speaks to unfair dismissal but that is when it gets to that stage. But in terms of when I am at work and let’s say because I am tall and my boss is short and he decides that he doesn’t like tall people and starts to do things like putting me in the smallest cubicle because my legs are long, then that is discrimination. These cases won’t necessarily get highlighted unless they get to dismissal stage, but we want to eliminate them from the workplace,” Jordan said.

The Minister explained that the draft of the legislation is at the stage of the Chief Parliamentary Council and the timeframe for the legislation to go to Parliament would depend on where the document falls on the legislative agenda list. However, he revealed that while levels are not at epidemic proportions, the number of workplace discrimination complaints reaching his office, suggest that urgency is required.

“The complaints that we get at the labour department suggest that there is some discontentment. Outside of the labour department we have to keep our ears to the ground, and we are hearing some rumblings. So there is some but even a little is too much because a person being discriminated against, often wants to keep their job and saying something might result in even more discrimination and being picked on to the point where they actually leave the organisation. I don’t think that it is at epidemic stage, but it is certainly more prevalent than it appears,” he stressed.
colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb