Equality commission should tackle more forms of discrimination - minister

A total of 83 discriminatory adverts were received by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality last year, the commission said in its annual report presented to Family Minister Dolores Cristina this morning.

The report points out that in 60, the discrimination was in the text and in the other 23 it was in the visuals.

The commission also received 35 complaints, including 22 from the public administration.

The majority of complaints received – 26, were gender discrimination related, one claimed racial discrimination.

The report pointed out that when it came to tele-working, employers found it difficult to evaluate the output of employees so there was a need for training to teach them about tele-working policies.

It also said that the commission was working towards promoting the legal duty of employees to have zero tolerance towards sexual harassment.

Ms Cristina said that the commission had already expanded its role to also cover racial discrimination. In future, she would also like it to tackle discrimination in terms of age, religion and sexual orientation.

She said that the six-year term of the commission was up. The new commission has been approved by Cabinet and will be appointed in the next few days.