The employer will commit to treating everyone fairly and will respect a wider range of diversity (based on the UK Equality Act Protected Characteristics):

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Gender reassignment status
• Marriage and Civil Partnership status
• Pregnancy, maternity and paternity
• Race/Ethnicity
• Religion or belief or absence of religion or belief
• Sexual orientation

 

Whilst noting that Jersey Law currently has slightly different Protected Characteristics (Race, Sex, Age, Disability Discrimination) but are broadly included within the above list.  For more information about the Discrimination (Jersey) Law, 2013, relating to employment JACS (Jersey Advisory and Conciliation Services) has a range of information regarding best practice and practical guides. 

Disability and Reasonable Adjustments

In Jersey the Disability Discrimination provisions of the legislation has recognised disability in a broader sense than the UK, based on a social model of disability rather than a medical model of disability. 

The medical model looks at what is wrong with a person, rather than the social model developed by disabled people, which focuses on what a person needs and how we can adjust things so that people can experience equality and fully participate.

Scope UK explain that “The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things.

The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.” 

This means in Jersey disability discrimination legislation regarding reasonable adjustments aims to reduce the social and physical barriers that limit peoples’ participation in all areas of life.  This requires a positive action and employers and service providers to take steps to remove or put adjustments in so that people are not negatively impacted. 

Duty of Employees

It is the duty of all employees to accept their personal responsibility in adhering to the principles of equal opportunities and engage in training opportunities provided by the employer.

Duty of Employer

The employer will actively promote equal opportunities throughout the organisation to ensure that all employees, regardless of contract type, receive treatment that is fair and equitable and consistent with their relevant aptitudes, potential skills and abilities.

Employees will be recruited and selected, promoted, and trained based on objective criteria to ensure the business has the right people in the right roles. We recognise that sexual, racial, age and disability are covered under the legislation however other forms of harassment may cause problems at work and we are committed to ensuring that unacceptable behaviour does not take place.

The organisation will not tolerate any behavior that constitutes discrimination, harassment or victimization. This includes but is not limited to: exclusion; intimidation; use of offensive words or actions; inappropriate or unwanted physical contact; inappropriate gossip, jokes or remarks whether written or spoken; and bullying.

We encourage everyone to report any incident of actual or suspected discrimination to their Manager or Director.

All concerns will be taken seriously and investigated promptly under the appropriate policy.