The Christmas season is upon us and it is as good a time as any to talk about your rights when you are attempting to access goods, facilities and services.

Service providers should not alter the terms or deny someone a service or access to a service based on their sex, marital status, race, ethnicity, origin (including geographic origin), disability or religion. Denying someone a service based on the above is discriminatory and in contravention of the Equal Opportunity Act.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/12/20/you-have-shopping-rights/

The world is battling with a pandemic. The only way to navigate this period and build a better society is to do it together. It is critical that we treat each other with dignity and respect and, above all, kindness. No group or sector has gone unscathed and it is a sobering reminder that this is a defining moment in history that will put our humanity to the test. Based on our experiences so far, in terms of how we have reacted and treated our fellow citizens, what grade do you think we would receive? Are we passing or are we failing?

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/12/13/human-rights-day-2021

The Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) joins United Nations (UN) members to commemorate World AIDS Day. Every year, on December 1, the world unites to show support for people living with HIV or AIDS and to remember those who have died from AIDS-related illnesses.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/12/01/world-aids-day-2021

The EOC's webinar presentation was the marquee attraction at the Trade and Investment Convention (TIC) 2021. The webinar on Know Your Rights: Employment Discrimination, registered the most attendees at this year's convention. The webinar, which took place on Wednesday 3rd November 2021, created an avenue for attendees to learn about the mandate of the EOC and have their questions answered on workplace discrimination and other relevant topics.

The Future of our nation depends on accessing talent and skill sets from all members of our society. It all starts with a quality education that gives people with disabilities access to inclusive and lifelong learning opportunities.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/11/22/education-a-fundamental-right-for-all/

COVID19 has undeniably created unique and challenging circumstances for both employers and employees, as well as an avenue for unwanted discrimination in the workplace. Despite these unprecedented circumstances, employers are under a legal obligation to ensure that any decision made in response to covid19 does not discriminate against employees pursuant to the Equal Opportunity Act, Chap 22:03 (the act).

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/11/15/workplace-vaccination

Whether you are an employer or human resource professional responsible for hiring or a jobseeker, it is important to be aware of your rights and responsibilities during the recruitment process.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/11/08/towards-inclusive-job-recruitment/

A grievance procedure is an orderly system for reporting and processing complaints. The procedure should contain an investigation and appeal mechanism that allows parties who are not satisfied to appeal against the results of investigations to the authorities.

Imagine the following scenario:

You are doing your job and in doing so, you upset a well-known authority figure. This person then posts racist remarks about you on their social media page. This results in many of the authority figure’s followers posting negative comments about you. What will you do? What can you do? The racist remarks are not tied to a category that is covered under the Equal Opportunity Act (the Act): these are education, employment, provision of goods and services and provision of accommodation. However, the good news is that the Act makes provisions for persons to lodge a complaint under the category, “Offensive Behaviour”.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/11/09/offensive-behaviour-is-covered-in-the-act/

The Equal Opportunity Commission offers conciliation to all parties involved in the complaints process. At these sessions, the commission’s conciliator/mediator acts as a neutral third party and facilitates discussions between the participants.

To read more visit: https://newsday.co.tt/2021/10/25/conciliation-a-viable-alternative-to-court/

The Commission has continued its good work in 2019 in a climate of financial constraints and limited resources. These constraints have had a significant impact on our ability to deliver on our statutory function, to work towards the elimination of discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different status.

Over the past year, sexual harassment and sexual assault in the workplace have been a focus of national and international attention largely because of the impact of the Me Too and Time’s Up movements. These two events led to a global debate about fairness, equality and the treatment of women in the workplace. The 2018 theme for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, “Empowering persons with disabilities and ensuring inclusiveness and equality”, focused on empowering persons with disabilities for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development.

The year 2017 saw several changes at the Commission reflecting its constant growth and evolution in meeting its statutory obligations. There were several highlights for the reporting period…

The year 2016 saw the Commission assuming a greater role in raising awareness of its statutory obligations both to remove clearly defined forms of discrimination and to intercede in instances in which such discrimination was found to be present.

The highlight of fiscal year 2015/ 2016 for the EOC was the conduct of our strategic planning exercise to take the work of the Commission down to the year 2018. We felt a 3-year plan would provide continuity after the end of the term of the current board in 2017.