Business groups still have their concerns over disability law
GROUP S representing a cross-section of Guernsey businesses has called for more time to reassess proposed discrimination legislation, which it describes as very weighty and complex.
The group, made up of the Institute of Directors, Guernsey Chamber of Commerce, Guernsey International Business Association, Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and the Confederation of Guernsey Industry, acknowledged that many changes had been made in response to feedback from them, but still believed more should be done.
‘We continue to have concerns over certain critical aspects, for example, the social definition of disability lacks clarity and is likely to be very problematic in interpretation and the separate protected status for carers is not included in the UK or Jersey legislation.’
A person qualifies as disabled if they have one or more long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairment.
The condition must also last or be expected to last for six months.
The policy letter revealed that the committee had struggled to find a compromise that worked for all stakeholders.
‘The committee has met on a number of occasions with representatives of the Guernsey Disability Alliance and business associations, both separately and together, to try to find common ground in relation to this key issue.
‘Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find a definition of disability that all stakeholders support.’
It also argued that case numbers from the Republic of Ireland demonstrated that a broad definition of disability would not lead to an excessive number of cases.
It said there were only 900 equality complaints in Ireland in 2018, with only 90 of them citing disability.
For context, the population of the Republic of Ireland is around 4.9 million.
The business groups once again called for the States, the largest employer in the island, to release its own impact assessment of the legislation.
Despite its concerns, the group saw some positives in the new proposals.
‘We note that the policy letter has a number of significant changes from the original proposals and we are particularly pleased to see the movement to a six-month qualifying period (for disability) and proportional upper limits on financial compensation.’
Earlier this week, Deputy Michelle Le Clerc, president of the committee, said she was keen to bring phase one of this legislation before the States before the end of this term.
‘We are keen to bring in at least a foundation of the legislation for those people who have been waiting a long time for some sort of disability discrimination legislation,’ she said.
‘We felt there was only so long we could delay and we had a duty to those who had waited a long time for this.’
