Annex
SEXUAL ORIENTATION—DISCRIMINATION IN
EMPLOYMENT AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING—NEW REGULATIONS
New legislation to prohibit discrimination on
grounds of sexual orientation in the fields of employment and
vocational training was introduced in December 2003, when the
Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern
Ireland) 2003 came into operation.
The main purpose of the Regulations is to provide
for:
— the prohibition of discrimination,
including indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment,
on grounds of sexual orientation;
— remedies by way of complaint to an
industrial tribunal or county court for individuals who consider
they have been discriminated against; and
— powers and duties for the Equality
Commission for Northern Ireland in relation to the new ground
of sexual orientation, including the power assist individual complainants.
In this provision NI differs from GB, where no new Commission
was formed, nor additional powers given to any existing Commission.
The Employment Directive
The Regulations implement in Northern Ireland
the sexual orientation strand of the EU Employment Directive which
lays down a general framework for combating discrimination in
employment and occupation on grounds of religion or belief, disability,
age or sexual orientation.
Policy development
A public consultation on draft Regulations was
undertaken early in 2003. Throughout the process of policy development,
a number of informal meetings were held with interested groups
such as COSO (Coalition on Sexual Orientation) and the Equality
Commission.
Since December 2003 the Equality Commission
for Northern Ireland has had 28 enquiries about possible cases.
To the beginning of August 2004, four of these had produced applications
for legal support from ECNI: one is a live case, one application
was refused support, one was withdrawn and one remains to be processed.
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