21 December 2015
The Minister for Social Security is inviting comments on her proposal to protect people in Jersey against age discrimination. This is in line with the Minister’s commitment to introduce legislation in 2016.
Members of the public are invited to review a draft of the proposed Age Discrimination Regulations and to consider the questions and policy issues that are set out in the consultation paper.
Minister for Social Security, Deputy Susie Pinel, said “We want to ensure that we introduce appropriate measures and I welcome comments on the proposed scope of the protection. This is not just about protecting older people or younger people. The Law will protect people of all ages in recruitment, employment, clubs and associations, voluntary work and the provision of goods and services.”
It is important that certain circumstances are not treated as prohibited acts of age discrimination and so a number of specific exceptions are being proposed. For example:
- allowing shops to continue asking for proof of age when serving age-restricted items, such as alcohol
- allowing employers to calculate employment benefits based on an employee’s length of service
- allowing service providers such as hairdressers and museums to continue offering age-related concessions to people of certain age groups, and
- so that health services can be targeted by age.
Deputy Pinel said “I welcome comments on the exceptions. While the Law will protect people of all ages in Jersey, the most complicated issue is likely to be retirement – we are asking people whether they agree that the dismissal of an employee at pensionable age should not be treated an act of age discrimination, as long as the employer has a policy of requiring employees to retire at that age.”
The Minister will consider any comments received before finalising the draft Regulations and lodging a Proposition for States debate. The Regulations are expected to come into force on 1 September 2016.
The deadline for comments on the proposals is 26 February 2016.
The Discrimination Law already protects people against discrimination on the grounds of five protected characteristics: race, sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, and pregnancy and maternity.
View the consultation
gov.je