Disability largest equality issue, warns Goodbody lawyer
Disability is likely to be one of the largest grounds for discrimination claims in the future, according to Ian Moore, head of Employment Law for A&L Goodbody.
Speaking at the company’s seminar on Managing Diversity in the Workplace, he said the definition of disability was very wide and includes issues such as obsessive compulsive disorder and anorexia.
Discrimination could be defined as the treatment of a person in a less favourable way than another person would be treated on any of nine distinct grounds, such as race, membership of the traveller community, gender, sexual orientation, age, religious belief, family status, marital status and disability, explained Mr Moore.
Disability claims to the Equality Tribunal increased by 107% in the first nine months of 2005 alone and were likely to increase in the future unless employers took a more proactive approach in addressing the issue, he added.
He said that it was imperative that employers had the correct procedures in place to try and prevent discrimination, including awareness programs, training, and documented policies.
Article courtesy of the Evening Echo.
