As you will be aware the States of Guernsey last week passed the proposed Anti-Discrimination legislation. GPEG welcomes a lot of this new legislation – the total lack of basic protections was clearly not right.
It is perhaps worth showing the main winners and losers in employment matters, which is where GPEG focussed :
Winners:
1. Actually disabled (under any sensible view) people will gain some useful rights.
2. Some people, who many people do not think of as disabled, will also gain rights.
3. People who want to game the system by exaggerating, or even inventing, disabilities to collect settlements will prosper.
4. Employment lawyers will have a whole new, highly profitable, target market.
5. There will be a larger employment supply.
Losers:
A. The economy – the direct costs will be many millions of pounds of diverted resources as well as legal and compliance costs. Many employers will see the Bailiwick as a less desirable place for many employers to operate – some will choose not to.
B. Employers – they will have to defend against claims which will influence hiring/firing and pay policies which will likely lead to less qualified people benefitting at the expense of others. Costs will have to be borne.
C. Everyone at work – potentially much more difficult relationships between employers and employees as both groups eye potential claims.
A lot could have been done to get a better outcome, but the States decided as they did.
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