Equality of opportunity and treatment in employment and occupation

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Equality of opportunity and treatment in
employment and occupation
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Fundamental instruments on equality

• The Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)
  Convention, 1958 (No. 111) and the Discrimination
  (Employment and Occupation) Recommendation, 1958
  (No. 111)
• The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100)
  and the Equal Remuneration Recommendation, 1951
  (No. 90)

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Convention No. 111

• Objective Elimination of discrimination in
  employment and occupation and achieving equal
  opportunities for all
• To be realized progressively but steps have to be
  taken immediately and on a continuing basis
• Certain immediate obligations

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Definition of discrimination

• Any distinction, exclusion or preference based on
  race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion,
  national extraction and social origin which has
  the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of
  opportunity or treatment in employment or
  occupation

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Eliminating discrimination Who and where?

• Principle of C.111 applies to all workers
• Equal access to vocational training
• Equal access to employment and occupation
• Equality in terms of conditions of work

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What is discrimination?

• Three elements
• Factual element any distinction, exclusion or
  preference
• Prohibited grounds race, colour, sex, religion,
  political opinion, national extraction, social
  origin and any other ground identified at the
  national level
• Negative effect on equality of opportunity and
  treatment (whether or not intended)
• Any discrimination whether it is
• In law or in practice
• Direct or indirect

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Examples Direct discrimination

• Job advertisement excluding applicants of a
  certain gender, age, or complexion
• Practice of hiring only persons of a certain
  ethnicity
• Exclusion from certain public sector jobs due to
  political opinion, religion or ethnic origin
• Exclusion of women to enter the police force or
  fire brigades
• Restricting working time of women, e.g. overtime
• Restricting womens access to certain occupation

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Indirect discrimination

• Apparently neutral law or practice which has a
  disproportionate negative impact on a particular
  group protected by the Convention or by national
  legislation, and which has no objective
  job-related justification

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Examples Indirect discrimination

• Height or language requirements that are
  unrelated to job
• Working time arrangements that impair equal
  opportunities of persons with family
  responsibilities
• Exclusion from domestic worker from labour
  legislation

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Prohibited grounds of discrimination Sex

• Refers to those distinctions which use the
  biological characteristics and functions that
  differentiate men from women
• It also includes those distinctions based on
  social differences between men and women that are
  learned, changeable over time and have wide
  variations within and between cultures
• It covers pregnancy, marital status, family
  responsibilities and sexual harassment

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Sex/gender discrimination Examples

• Male preference in hiring
• Mandatory pregnancy testing or questions
  regarding planned pregnancies during recruitment
• Women are forced to retire upon marriage or
  pregnancy or requiring women not to get pregnant
  or marry
• Excluding women from dangerous job without any
  justification related to pregnancy or maternity
• Working time arrangements that are not related to
  the requirements of the work that make it
  impossible for women to carry out the job
• Gender-biased allocation of benefits and
  allowances

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Occupational segregation by gender

• Horizontal and vertical segregation
• Various causes
• Usually reflects a lack of equal opportunities
• May involve direct or indirect discrimination
• Gender segregated labour markets or workplaces
  are a breeding ground for discrimination against
  women

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Race and colour

• Ethnic group to which an individual belongs to by
  reason of heredity
• Difference in colour is one of the ethnic
  characteristics
• Includes
• Racial/ethnic groups Uigur in China
• Shading preference for persons of lighter
  skin
• Indigenous and tribal peoples e.g.
  Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia, Nepal

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National extraction

• Distinctions between the citizens of the same
  country on the basis of a persons place of
  birth, ancestry or foreign origin
• Includes
• National or linguistic minorities
• Foreigners who have been nationalized
• Descendents of foreign immigrants

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Political opinion

• Activities expressing or demonstrating opposition
  to the established political principles, or
  simply a different opinion
• Membership or non-membership in a political party
  or a political or socio-political attitude, civic
  commitment, moral qualities

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Social origin

• When an individual's social origin determines
  his or her occupational future, either because he
  or she is denied certain jobs or activities, or
  because he or she is only assigned certain jobs
• Example class, socio-occupational category,
  or caste (Dalits in India or Nepal, the Buraku
  in Japan)

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Religion

• Distinctions based on whether a person is or is
  not of a certain faith or belongs to a certain
  sect
• Includes expression or manifestation of belief
• Includes atheism

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Other grounds

• Other grounds added in national legislations
  include
• Age
• Disability
• State of health
• Family responsibilities
• Sexual orientation
• Nationality
• Trade union affiliation or lack thereof

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What is not discrimination?

• Inherent requirements of the job
• Measures affecting an individual who is suspected
  of or engaged in activities prejudicial to the
  security of the State
• Special measures of protection and assistance

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Inherent requirements

• Concept of a particular job refers to a specific
  and definable job, function or task. Any
  limitation within the context of this exception
  must be required by characteristics of the
  particular job, and be in proportion to its
  inherent requirements
• Certain criteria may be used but not applied to
  whole sectors, occupations
• Example Equal Treatment Act of Cyprus

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Special measures

• Special measures of protection or assistance
  provided for in ILO Conventions or
  Recommendations are not discrimination
• Special measures agreed by workers and employers
  designed to meet special requirements of workers
  i.e. based on sex, disability, age, family
  responsibilities, or social or cultural status
  are not discrimination

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Special temporary measures

• Enactment of legislation is insufficient to
  eliminate discrimination in practice. States can
  take special temporary measures to remedy
  existing inequalities through affirmative action
  such as
• Preferential treatment
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Setting targets

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Elements of a national policy

• R.111
• All persons should enjoy equality of opportunity
  in respect of
• Access to vocational guidance and placement
  services
• Access to training and employment
• Promotion and advancement
• Security of tenure of employment
• Equal pay for work of equal value
• Conditions of work

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Elements of a national policy

• Government should ensure non-discrimination in
  all employment-related activities
• Employers should not practice or tolerate
  discrimination in hiring or training
• The principle should be respected in CBAs
• Employers and workers organizations should not
  practice or tolerate discrimination
• Application of the policy should not adversely
  affect special measures under Article 5

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Means of promotion and enforcement

• Administrative structures (e.g. labour
  inspection)
• Representative bodies at the enterprise level
• Special bodies to promote, investigate, supervise
  equality and prevent discrimination (EEO
  commission)
• Special temporary measures
• Educational programmes

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Issues in application

• Indirect discrimination
• Affirmative action/positive action
• Lack of enforcement
• Administrative
• Judicial
• Informal economy
• Exclusion of certain job from coverage of labour
  legislation
• Equality in the broader context of society

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• The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No.
  100) and the Equal Remuneration Recommendation,
  1951 (No. 90)

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Objectives

• Equal remuneration (ER) for men and women for
  work of equal value
• Rates of remuneration without discrimination
  based on sex

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Objectives

• To ensure ER in public sector
• To promote ER the private sector

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Causes of the pay gap

• Productivity related differences
• Job availability
• Job selection
• Pay structure
• Perceived labour costs
• Lack of awareness

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Scope of application

• Applies to all workers and all sectors
• Applies to all elements of remuneration
• Implies a comparison between jobs

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Permissible pay differences

• Based on objective differences in the work
  performed
• Based on non-sex-based factors such as
• Seniority
• Education
• Qualifications
• Experience
• Productivity

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Methods of wage determination

• Legislation
• Public service wage classifications
• Collective agreements
• Wage directives from wage boards
• Custom and practice
• Individual contracts

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Work of equal value (1)

• Equal or identical work or work in equal or
  identical conditions
• AND
• Different kinds of work which based on objective
  criteria are of equal value

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Work of equal value (2)

• Comparison between jobs is not limited to the
  same job, the same employer or the same sector

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Job evaluation to determine equal value

• Analytical methodology preferred
• Used to classify jobs based on job content
• Uses job descriptions
• Rating of job content based on responsibility,
  skill, effort and working conditions

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Job evaluation systems

• Job evaluation systems do not automatically
  promote equal remuneration for work of equal
  value
• Effort must be made to avoid gender bias and to
  measure aspects of work done by women as well as
  that typically done by men

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How to avoid gender bias?

• Make gender equality an objective
• Use objective criteria
• Avoid stereotypes
• Avoid under-valuing tasks
• Avoid over-valuing formal credentials
• Consider formal and informal experience

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Common forms of discrimination

• Jobs or occupations with a female denomination
• Under-evaluation of certain jobs or occupations
• Invisibility of the qualities, tasks, skills
  efforts
• Vertical horizontal occupational segregation