Serious concerns were today expressed by the Malta Employers Association about the Human Rights and the Equality Commission Act 2015, and the Equality Act 2015. The association also reserved the right to take any legitimate action to protect employers’ rights.

In a statement, the association said that while it found no issue with safeguarding the rights of minorities and vulnerable persons, it could not agree in principle with measures that would effectively place employers as guilty parties before being given the opportunity to prove their innocence.

This legislation will give the commissioner the authority to investigate, prosecute, judge and condemn an accused employer if he does not manage to prove his innocence to the satisfaction of the same commissioner.

This, employers said, was against natural law and employers could not be treated as second class citizens and be denied rights given to other persons.

The association also objects to the excessive powers being bestowed upon the Commissioner for Equality, who would investigate and effectively be judge, jury and executioner on matters related to discrimination, it said.

“Any person or body accused of discrimination should only be found guilty or otherwise in court after the due legal process, and not by an arbitrarily appointed commissioner.

“The fact that the original draft of the legislation, which also gave the commissioner the power and discretion to send an employer to prison without due process, has been amended is of no consolation to employers,” it said.

Provisions of the legislation and the duties of the commissioner would overlap with provisions which already existed in employment law, the MEA said.

Unlike the government, it said, employers did not have the luxury to employ persons on the basis of a ‘position of trust', which frequently was an excuse for blatant cronyism and political discrimination.

“Is government prepared to apply this legislation to its own employment practices, and reassure the tax payer that all employment on the basis of position of trust has been awarded according to the principle of equal opportunity and meritocracy?”

The MEA stated that the provisions of this legislation went way beyond measures and directives at EU level, and that a draft EU Directive with similar provisions was shelved following opposition by many member states due to its impracticality.

“Why are the Maltese authorities so keen to become the test market of the EU in such matters? Is this excessive zeal driven by a genuine concern for minority groups, or by electoral convenience and pressure which is being exerted by extremist lobby groups,” it asked.