Equal Opportunities

The Equal Opportunities Act is described as:

“An Act to prohibit certain kinds of discrimination, to promote equality of opportunity between persons of different status, to establish an Equal Opportunity Commission and an Equal Opportunity Tribunal and for matters connected therewith.”

The Act prohibits discrimination by: 

• • Status

  • Victimisation

  • Offensive Behaviour

Discrimination by Status

Discrimination is classified into four (4) broad categories. Each complaint must fall within one or more of these categories and must correlate to one or more of the seven (7) status grounds provided for in the Act.

Discrimination is prohibited in the following four (4) areas:

• employment

• education

• the provision of goods and services, and

• the provision of accommodation

Discrimination is prohibited in the four areas above on the basis on any of these “status” grounds:

• sex

• race

• ethnicity

• origin, including geographical origin

• religion

• marital status

• disability

Discrimination by victimisation

A person is not allowed to discriminates against another person or treat them less favourably than another person of a different status (see the status list above) in circumstances that are the same or are not materially different.

In these cases there has to be a comparator. 

An example might be: all the people who applied for a job had the same qualifications and experience but the only person who did not get shortlisted was a woman and all the rest wee men.

Discrimination on grounds of offensive behaviour

Offensive behaviour occurs when a person says or does something publicly that:

• • Is likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or group of persons;

  • Is done because of the gender, race, ethnicity, origin or religion of the other person; and

  • Is done with the intention of inciting gender, racial or religious hatred.

Exceptions

• Genuine Occupational Qualification

  • e.g. women’s refuge, acting, to preserve decency

• Religious shops

  • where being a particular religion is a qualification 

• Domestic services and family businesses

  • but not when employing more than three people

• Inherent requirements, unjustifiable hardship, risk

  • e.g. disability 

• Single sex educational establishments

Non-Application of the Act

The Act does not apply to the following:

• • Sport

  • Pregnancy

  • Clubs

  • Voluntary bodies

  • Charities

  • Insurance

  • Religious bodies

The International Labour Organization has some Conventions which are linked to this subject and are worth looking at:

• C190 - Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019

• C100 - Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951