Gov pays out eight discrimination settlements in four years

Monday 24 January 2022

There have been at least 13 complaints about acts of discrimination within Government since 2018, with eight being resolved with financial settlements.

According to information obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Law, five cases over the past five years were also resolved through training.

The other complaints that had been resolved were through either through suspension, or the cases were dismissed.

As there were under five people who fell into both of these categories, the precise number has not been given to protect individuals' privacy.

Pictured: In the last four years, eight complaints of discrimination have been resolved with financial settlements.

In 2021, there were complaints relating to disability, race and age. In 2020, complaints related to race, disability and sex.

This marks a shift from 2018 and 2019, where discrimination allegations only related to gender. 

The topic of discrimination complaints against Government officials was brought into the public eye late last year, when the Government made an unprompted statement saying that "an individual was treated differently and unintentionally discriminated against as a result of their hidden disabilities (ADHD and Autism)" during a recruitment process.

Pictured: A breakdown of the nature of complaints over the past four years. Where there are fewer than five individuals, exact numbers have not been provided to protect anonymity. 

It was later revealed by People and Corporate Services Director Mark Grimley that the details of this case could not be made public due to a court order.

"Whilst we can't go into the individual because they are protected and the case is protected by a court order... what we can say is, I met in person with the individual on behalf of the SEB, and we sought to resolve the nature of the complaints," Mr Grimley said.

"The individual themselves is very, very sensible about what they were expecting from the SEB, and that was just to make sure that people were aware that particularly hidden disabilities should not be taken for granted nor should people make assumptions about how best to work with people with hidden disabilities."