Minister of Labour and Social Partnership Relations, Colin Jordan, said discrimination was more prevalent than it seems in organisations across the island.
Government is at this time formulating legislation to combat discrimination in workplaces.
Making this disclosure, Labour Minister Colin Jordan said across the private and public sectors there have been reports of workers being treated unfairly by co-workers or supervisors and Government was therefore moving to “root out” such incidents.
“We are putting it in place to stop it from happening where it is happening, prevent it from happening where it may not be happening and creating a workspace that people can feel safe,” he told the media during an interview yesterday at the Sagicor Cave Hill School of Business.
As to how widespread the issue was, Jordan expressed his belief that it was much more prevalent than it seemed.
“The Labour Department receives complaints, indicating that there is a level of dissatisfaction and even a little is too much… (but) when you listen to persons speaking off the record, you get to understand. While I don’t think it is at epidemic stage, it is more prevalent than it appears,” he added.
The minister however was unsure as to exactly when the bill would be brought before Cabinet for approval, but insisted upon its necessity, while noting the legislation would tie in with the new International Labour Organisation convention against violence or harassment at work.
“We want to avoid situations where people for whatever reasons are discriminated against. Remember in the early days we used to talk about HIV and AIDS. In more recent times, it was about people living with disabilities, so what we want to create is a legislative framework that can help a country to stand firm on the fact that we do not allow in workplaces that kind of discrimination to take place.
“If you do not legislate it, then organisations can decide how they will operate and we have come to the point where I believe people who work in a place must feel that they are not going to be picked on and discriminated against; they will have equal opportunity like everybody else. The only time discrimination should come, is if you are a bad worker, then you get reprimanded or dismissed, but a worker who is performing his or her job should not be discriminated against,” he added.