Racism, sexism and homophobia disciplinary numbers (FOI)

​Request

How many Government of Jersey employees have been disciplined for racism, sexism, or homophobia at work over the past five years and how this breaks down across departments.

Please confirm whether these individuals remain employed by the departments in question and what year each allegation took place.

​Response

The requested information for 2019-2021 is not held centrally and it is estimated that to identify and extract the data requested from the records that are available would exceed the timescales prescribed in the Freedom of Information (Costs) (Jersey) Regulations 2014. Therefore, Article 16 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Since September 2022, there were fewer than five employees with substantiated allegations relating to sexism, racism or homophobia. Disclosure control has been applied to avoid the identification of individuals. 

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of their departments, the years that the allegations took place, or whether the individuals remain employed as this may breach the privacy of those concerned; Article 25 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) 2011 Law has been applied. 

The information relates to individuals within a small geographical area and if the requested information was released it could be combined with other information already in the public domain and allow identification of individuals. It must also be noted that disclosure under Freedom of Information legislation is effectively an unlimited disclosure to the public at large, without conditions. The wider public interest issues must be considered against the fairness to the data subjects involved when deciding whether or not the information requested is suitable for disclosure.

The Information Commissioner has previously determined –

“Information about an employee’s actions or decisions in carrying out their job is still their personal data.  However, given the need for accountability and transparency about public authorities, there must be some expectation of disclosure. On the other hand, information that may be held in a personnel file about their health or disciplinary record, for example, all relates to them as individuals and to their personal circumstances. There is a greater expectation that such information will not be disclosed.”

Articles applied 

Article 16 - A scheduled public authority may refuse to supply information if cost excessive

(1) A scheduled public authority that has been requested to supply information may refuse to supply the information if it estimates that the cost of doing so would exceed an amount determined in the manner prescribed by Regulations. 

Article 25 - Personal information

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005.

(2) Information is absolutely exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject as defined in the Data Protection (Jersey) Law 2005; and

(b) its supply to a member of the public would contravene any of the data protection principles, as defined in that Law.​​