The EOC announced findings of a study on workplace discrimination against persons with family status in Hong Kong on 22 August 2018. Sampling 407 employers and 1,003 employees via telephone surveys, the study revealed a common lack of clear knowledge about what constitutes family status discrimination under the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO). Still, 7.8% of the surveyed employees with family care responsibilities reported having experienced discrimination in the past two years, citing unfair treatment in the recruitment process and difficulties in applying for leave to tend to children and elderly family members.

On 13 August, the EOC published the summer issue of its half-yearly journal Equality Perspectives, which was distributed to major business districts through the Hong Kong Economic Times.

The EOC’s 2018 fall training programme is now open for enrolment. Spanning from mid-September to late November, the programme features four free courses touching on the Commission’s role, the anti-discrimination ordinances, racial inclusion in the workplace, sexual harassment and the notion of vicarious liability. These are complemented by six paid courses that offer an in-depth look at how to formulate and implement human resources (HR) policies free from discrimination based on sex, marital status, pregnancy, family status and race, as well as a sound and transparent complaint-handling mechanism. Business owners, HR practitioners and managers would find the latter particularly pertinent to their daily work.

Whether you are a newly founded non-profit organisation with myriad plans to tackle social prejudice or a veteran equality advocate looking to scale up an established initiative, there will be times you need help oiling the wheels. The EOC’s Community Participation Funding Programme may just be that injection of financial support you are looking for – each project approved under the programme receives a maximum of HK$50,000, and applications for the year 2018/2019 are now being accepted until 14 September 2018.