Discrimination: "penalties should be much tougher in Jersey"

Monday 19 September 2016

A leading UK employment lawyer has told Jersey business leaders he’s shocked it’s taken so long to introduce gay and transgender discrimination laws.

Paul Gillen’s seminar to an invited audience was timed to coincide with Pride Week – an event aimed at highlighting equality for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people.

Mr Gillen told the audience he found it “almost unbelievable the [discrimination] laws weren’t introduced until 2013” and that the Island lagged behind many ‘developing’ countries around the world.

Last week, in what is believed to have been the first case of its kind in the Island, a tribunal awarded a gay shop worker £3,250 compensation for being harassed, victimised and unfairly dismissed.

Mr Gillen says by UK standards the award was ‘extremely low’. In the UK there’s no limit to the level of compensation. He says if the case had been heard there it’s likely the victim would have been given a year’s pay for unfair dismissal and £30,000 compensation. There have been cases of over a million pounds. In Jersey the law caps the limit at £10,000.

According to Mr Gillen it’s likely this recent case will encourage more complainants to come forward and that if the Island follows UK trends, the level of payouts is likely to go up as Jersey tribunals send out a warning message and begin to realise the affect discrimination can have on people’s lives.

One of the potential problems Mr Gillen sees with Jersey’s current laws is that because the level of compensation is so low some employers might be willing to pay £10,000 to get rid of someone they view as ‘troublesome’ or ‘awkward’. He believes to avoid this, there has to be tougher penalties.

In the recent case, not only were the two workers who taunted the gay employee fined, so were the bosses for allowing it to happen, and for the way they handled the complaint. Mr Gillen says it’s essential employers get to grips with the new laws.

He says they need to have a clear anti-discrimination policy in place that explicitly mentions gay and trans-gender rights. Bosses should also make it compulsory for all members of staff to report all cases of discrimination even if they weren’t directly affected. And, he says employers must regularly send their staff to courses on anti-discrimination laws. "Just sending them on one every five years isn’t enough”, he warns.