Employment Equality Acts 1998-2004

The Employment Equality Act, 1998-2004 outlaws direct and indirect discrimination at work and in employment conditions on nine grounds, one of which is disability. The signing into law of the Equality Act, 2004 in July 2004 has had led to significant changes to both the Employment Equality Act, 1998-2004, and Equal Status Act, 2000-2004. Some of these changes relate specifically to disability and are outlined below.

The Employment Equality Act, 1998-2004 covers employees in both the public and private sectors including people employed through employment agencies and applicants for employment and training. It outlaws discrimination in all areas relevant to employment: discrimination by employers; in collective agreements; in the advertising of jobs; by employment agencies; in vocational training; by certain vocational bodies.

Discrimination is defined as the treatment of one person in a less favourable way than another person is, has been or should be treated. Disability is defined as including total or partial absence of bodily or mental facilities, chronic disease, whether manifest or not, learning and personality disorders.

The Act outlaws discrimination against an employee with a disability or a prospective employee who has a disability in relation to; access/recruitment to employment; conditions of employment; training or experience for, or in relation to, employment; promotion, regrading or classification of posts.

An employer may not discriminate on grounds of disability but that does not mean that the employer must recruit or promote someone who is not willing to do or fully capable of doing the job in question.

A person with a disability may be capable of doing a job if special services or facilities are provided and, if this is so, the employer may not consider him/her incapable as long as the provision of those special services/facilities are not considered to be a disproportionate burden on the employer. Previous to the Equality Act, 2004, an employer could refuse to provide facilities on the grounds that it gave rise to more than a nominal cost and accordingly the new Act imposes a higher burden on employers.

There is a list of defining criteria in the new Act that are used to determine disproportionate burden. These are:

the financial and other costs involved,
the scale and financial resources of the employers business,
the number of persons who would benefit from the measures,
any disruption that would be caused by them,
the nature of any benefit or detriment experienced by any person likely to be affected by them,
the possibility of obtaining public funding or other assistance, any benefit that would accrue to the employer.

The new Act also extends the provision of positive action (action which allows employers to make additional efforts to recruit, employ and promote members of groups which may traditionally be excluded) to all nine of the grounds covered by the 1998-2004 Act. Previously only positive action on the gender ground had been included.

More information, visit Citizens Information Board, Citizens Information, Irish Statute Book, and the Equality Authority.

Discrimination Making a Complaint
The Equality Tribunal
The Equality Tribunal, formerly known as the Office of the Director of Equality Investigations, is an independent statutory body whose principal role is the investigation and mediation of complaints of discrimination in relation to employment and in relation to access to goods and services, disposal of property and certain aspects of education. Anyone who feels that they have been discriminated against under the Employment Equality Act, the Equal Status Act, or the Pensions Acts 1990-2004, may lodge a complaint with The Equality Tribunal within six months of the occurrence of the act of discrimination.

There are two ways in which complaints can be addressed, through investigation and decision, or through mediation. An investigation is a quasi-judicial process carried out by a Tribunal Equality Officer who will consider submissions from both parties before arranging a joint hearing or hearings of the case to enable him/her to reach a Decision in the matter. Mediation is an alternative method of resolving complaints, seeking to arrive at a solution through an agreement between the parties, rather than through an investigation and Decision.