Most of the matters being solved by the Equal Opportunity Commission (EOC) relate to discrimination at places of employment in T&T, according to its chairman, Prof John La Guerre. He said so in an interview after yesterday's opening of a three-day workshop on Investigating Discrimination, organised by the commission, at the Government Training Centre, Chaguaramas.
The commission was established in 2008 to resolve complaints of discrimination in T&T. The services are free to the general public. La Guerre said the EOC had acquired about 90 to 95 per cent of its staff. He said the Equal Opportunity Tribunal, which is an appeal body, still was not fully staffed.
He added: "We have been processing and solving a number of the complaints before us (but) a number of complaints are being referred to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal for further resolution. "We have been receiving quite a number of complaints recently. We get almost 30 complaints a month and they are being investigated."
He said many of the complaints lodged at the EOC "generally revolved around employment discrimination, in terms of promotion, both in the public and private sectors." He admitted that the EOC was also in receipt of complaints of racial and cultural discrimination. In many instances, he said, the matters were resolved by the payment of increments or other monetary compensation or via promotion.
La Guerre said one of the major challenges facing the EOC was getting the evidence to support the complaints. The training workshop is being conducted by acting director of investigation and conciliation at the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Tracey Raymond.
