Fears that Guernsey’s discrimination law would trigger a surge in complaints have “simply not come to pass”, according to the island’s employment watchdog.
The Employment and Equal Opportunities Service (EEOS) said concerns the law could “open the floodgates” to malicious claims hadn’t materialised in the law’s first two years, in its second annual report.
Discrimination-related enquiries made up under 17% of more than 720 cases the organisation dealt with last year, with disability discrimination the most common.
Of those, 40 turned into formal tribunal complaints – about 5.5% of the total cases.
Deputy Tina Bury, President of Employment and Social Security (ESS), said the figures showed the system was working broadly as intended.
“What we haven’t seen is a surge of vexatious or opportunistic claims,” she said in the report’s foreword, while caseloads had remained “steady” since the law came into force.
Earlier engagement
Rather than fuelling a wave of litigation, she said, the law appeared to be encouraging earlier engagement and informal resolution, with more employers seeking advice before disputes escalated.
When the legislation was being debated, some employers and commentators warned it could expose businesses to increased costs and risk, including the potential for frivolous complaints.
But the latest data shows this hasn’t been that case in the first two years.
Most complaints still arise as part of wider employment disputes – particularly unfair dismissal – rather than standalone discrimination claims.
