Draft Discrimination Law and Employment 18 Sept 08

Proposed Discrimination (Jersey) Law and Employment 

We expect the Discrimination (Jersey) Law 200- (Race) to come into effect during 2009.

This law is a significant step forward for Jersey. It deals with discrimination across all areas, not just in respect of employment. Over the next few years we expect to see a number of "attributes" introduced by regulations, the first being "Race" which is likely to come into effect during 2008. This will be followed by Sex, Disablity and Age discrimination, probably in that order but the precise dates of implementation are, as yet, unknown.

During this training course we look beyond the Race Regulations and examine how discrimination legislation in general will impact upon employment.

In particular, employers should be aware that from the date the Race Regulations are in force, if they discriminate against a person in relation to recruitment and selection, promotion, training, pay and benefits or selection for redundancy or dismissal on the basis of their nationality, race, colour or ethnic origin, then they may well face a claim of racial discrimination.

Although the law is not yet in force, we strongly urge all businesses to review their policies and procedures and to educate their staff appropriately.

We do not intend to deliver a "clause by clause" explanation of the law, but to ensure that you have a working knowledge of its provisions. We do expect to use a number of case studies during the training. In order to deliver this course JACS relies on examples of discriminatory acts.  By their very nature some of these examples may appear offensive but this does not mean that JACS discriminates or endorses discriminatory acts and such examples are used to assist in understanding types of discrimination and the impact this can have upon those affected.