Extending the Scope of Employment Equality Legislation
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
Press Release
Publication of Research Report : Extending the Scope of Employment Equality Legislation
6 September, 2004
The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr Michael McDowell, T.D., today announced the publication of an important research report - "Extending the Scope of Employment Equality Legislation: Comparative Perspectives on the Prohibited Grounds of Discrimination".
The report, which was prepared by the Law Department, University College Cork, is based on the findings of research of international experience of equality legislation prohibiting discrimination in employment on the grounds of socio-economic status (including social origin); trade union membership; criminal conviction / ex-offender / ex-prisoner and political opinion. The research was undertaken as part of a review of the discriminatory grounds in the Employment Equality Act 1998.
[The authors of the report are: Shane Kilcommins, Emma McClean, Maeve McDonagh, Siobhan Mullally and Darius Whelan.]
The Employment Equality Act 1998 already prohibits discrimination in relation to employment on nine grounds, namely; gender, marital status, family status, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age disability, race and membership of the Traveller community.
The Act provides for a review of its operation, with a view to assessing whether there is a need to add to the discriminatory grounds. As part of this review, a Round Table Conference involving the social partners, relevant Government Departments, the Equality Authority, the Equality Tribunal and the Labour Court was held. At this Conference, it was argued by some interest groups that the Employment Equality Act should be amended to include the following new grounds : socio-economic status (including social origin), trade union membership, criminal conviction / ex-prisoner / ex-offender and political opinion. It was also acknowledged that the legislation, which has led to new challenges for enforcement bodies, employers and Government, is relatively new and that the practical implications of extending its scope to include the proposed new grounds require detailed examination and debate.
The arguments advanced at the Round Table Conference warrant detailed consideration. In order to assist with this consideration, UCC Law Department was commissioned in 2002 to carry out a comparative review of the international experience of employment legislation prohibiting discrimination on the four grounds suggested and their findings are presented in this Report.
The Report is being published and circulated for comment to participants at the Round Table Conference with a view to informing further debate and policy decisions on this issue.
The full report may be downloaded in three parts in Adobe PDF format using the links below.
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Extending the Scope of Equality Legislation Part One