Despite living in London, I have decided to do my Employment Law Masters dissertation on Employment Discrimination in Trinidad and Tobago because the majority of people in T&T have no clue about their rights in regards to employment practices. The aim is to educate citizens and encourage the government to enforce policies to allow our heterogeneous society to be reflected in both the public and private sectors.
Coincidentally, while researching and doing my proposal, Nizam Mohammed, the recently fired Police Service Chairman made a comment that there are too many Africans in the Police Service. Without getting into politics and detail, the comment lacked a historical perspective, but at the same time is true. This same imbalance in the TTPS can be seen in reverse in the medical field and on copious state boards. To me, the stark irony of Nizam's comment was that he, as the Chairman of the Police Service, was NOT of African descent.
Due to the amount of information to impart, I will have to spread this over the next few weeks, today starting with the characteristics that can precipitate discrimination. It is illegal to discriminate based on the following characteristics:
(a) the sex - does not include sexual preference or orientation
(b) race - a group of persons of common ethnic origin, colour or of mixed race
(c) ethnicity;
(d) origin, including geographical origin;
(e) religion;
(f) marital status; or
(g) Disability - includes:
• total or partial loss of a bodily function;
• total or partial loss of a part of the body;
• malfunction of a part of the body including a mental or psychological disease or disorder; or
• malformation or disfigurement of part of the body
Coincidentally, while researching and doing my proposal, Nizam Mohammed, the recently fired Police Service Chairman made a comment that there are too many Africans in the Police Service. Without getting into politics and detail, the comment lacked a historical perspective, but at the same time is true. This same imbalance in the TTPS can be seen in reverse in the medical field and on copious state boards. To me, the stark irony of Nizam's comment was that he, as the Chairman of the Police Service, was NOT of African descent.
Due to the amount of information to impart, I will have to spread this over the next few weeks, today starting with the characteristics that can precipitate discrimination. It is illegal to discriminate based on the following characteristics:
(a) the sex - does not include sexual preference or orientation
(b) race - a group of persons of common ethnic origin, colour or of mixed race
(c) ethnicity;
(d) origin, including geographical origin;
(e) religion;
(f) marital status; or
(g) Disability - includes:
• total or partial loss of a bodily function;
• total or partial loss of a part of the body;
• malfunction of a part of the body including a mental or psychological disease or disorder; or
• malformation or disfigurement of part of the body
