Employment Discrimination Statistics 1 April 2006 - 31 March 2007

16 April 2007

Race and disability continue to be the grounds of discrimination that attract the most complaints to the Human Rights Commission in the area of employment and pre-employment. The ground of ‘race’ includes five grounds in the Human Rights Act 1993 which are race, racial harassment, colour, ethnic or national origin and racial disharmony.

The EEO Commissioner Dr Judy McGregor said the Commission received 1,533 complaints between 1st April 2006 and 31st March 2007. Of these complaints 441 were complaints of discrimination in the area of employment (310) and pre-employment (131). Employment is the largest area of complaints received in the Commission over this period, followed by government activity (190), then provision of goods and services (186), and then pre-employment (131).

“The number of complaints on the ground of disability in the pre-employment area shows that disabled people continue to face structural barriers to decent work”, she said.