There needs to be an adjustment to the Equal Opportunity Commission and the Tribunal to allow for further investigation into claims of Sexual harassment or discrimination in the workplace.
This was one of the concerns raised by EOC Chairman Lynette Seebaran Suite during a panel discussion “Introducing the Equal Opportunity Act Remedy to the Legal Profession” hosted by the Law Association of Trinidad & Tobago and the EOC on Tuesday.
Seebaran explained that in many cases claims of discrimination were investigated but sexual discrimination had not been considered.
“Frequently even before we get to the stage of conciliation, the commission comes to the conclusion the complaint has befallen into a category or a status where we have to do what we call to NFA the matter, where no further action can be taken,” said Seebaran-Suite.
“You may have a category of discrimination that was investigated but maybe a particular or one particular that was not known,” she said, as a result, the tribunal would often dismiss the claim or complaint, leaving many complainants frustrated.
“We don’t have the jurisdiction to entertain their grievance,” she said, calling for an adjustment to be made to allow the tribunal to explore such claims.
Seebaran Suite continued her call for more attention to be paid on CNC 3’s The Morning Brew on Wednesday, where she issued an appeal to workers, trade unions, government, business and civil society to come together on this issue of sexual harassment in the workplace to ensure the flawed process is fixed and the issue is properly addressed going forward.
Seebaran Suite also explained that the majority of complaints to the EOC, in relation to matters of employment came from the public sector.
“Overwhelmingly our complaints come against the public sector. So statutory bodies the protective services, ministries. The service commission. Overwhelmingly the complaints come there. This may very well be because of the danger a person places himself in when they make a complaint against an employer. They fear victimisation, they fear being fired and so on,” she said.
She said, however, according to the statistics there was an equal percentage of complaints from both the African and Indian community.