Proposal to limit powers of Guernsey discrimination role

The new role would be key to introducing protection against discrimination, a government committee said

An attempt is being made to limit the powers of Guernsey's new director of the Employment and Equal Opportunities Service (EEOS).

The new role is aimed at promoting equal opportunities and working towards eliminating any discrimination locally.

Deputies John Dyke and Peter Ferbrache want to make sure the powers of the new director are limited.

They also want to see the burden of proof on the director when defending any appeal for any decision made.

Deputies are due to debate the proposals next week.

Deputy John Dyke said he was pushing forward a proposal to limit the powers of the new statutory official as he believed the law as proposed would be detrimental to the island's finance industry.

One of his proposals is to ensure information is only obtained under the new law by the director if he reasonably believes that a person may be committing or about to commit a prohibited act of discrimination or other contravention of the law.

'Operationally independent'

Mr Dyke said the new law needed to be "reasonable" and claimed in its current form parts of it were not.

Chief Minister Peter Ferbrache has seconded the amendment as he said he believed the law as drafted was too "intrusive."

He said there needs to be a "balance" with regard to the powers of the new official.

The new director position will replace an existing full-time post in the Employment Relations Service team.

Deputy Lindsay De Sausmarez, vice-president of the committee for employment & social security, said: "The committee will comment on the amendments after it has had an opportunity to discuss them and consider the potential implications.

"But in the meantime, I would stress the importance of the role of the director of the EEOS which will be an operationally independent, statutory role."

She added the role was key to the introduction of "long-awaited protections against discrimination on the grounds of race, disability, carer status, sexual orientation and religion or belief".

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