Discrimination on nine specified grounds, namely, gender, civil status, family, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, membership of the Traveller is prohibited by law in the field of employment under the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015. The Acts prohibit direct and indirect discrimination or harassment related to any of the discriminatory grounds, sexual harassment, and victimisation. These include recruitment and promotion; equal pay; working conditions; training or experience; dismissal and harassment including sexual harassment. They also prohibit victimisation for taking equality claims.
Complaints regarding breaches of equality legislation may be pursued before the Workplace Relations Commission, which publishes statistics regularly on its decisions in regard to equality complaints disaggregated by discriminatory ground. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, which is independent in the exercise of its statutory functions, provides information on taking complaints under these acts and supports strategic litigation in this regard.
I am currently conducting a review of the Equality Acts to examine, among other issues, the functioning of the Acts and their effectiveness in combatting discrimination and promoting equality.
