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The EOC Reports on Work Plans and Progress

17/09/2009

Members of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) met on 17 September 2009 (Thursday) at the 82nd EOC Meeting and discussed various matters related to the Commission’s business including the following:

Update on Progress of Formal Investigation on Accessibility in Certain Publicly Accessible Premises
Six Monthly Review of EOC’s Work
Reports of the Legal & Complaints Committee, Community Participation & Publicity Committee, Public Education & Research Committee, Administration & Finance Committee
Matters related to Internal Administration

The progress of the Formal Investigation on Accessibility in Certain Publicly Accessible Premises and the Six Monthly Review of the EOC’s Work were reported at the meeting.

Members noted the significant increase in applications for legal assistance and the number of cases where applications were granted during January to June 2009, as compared with January to June 2008 (see Section B).

Furthermore, Members also noted a substantial increase in training during the same periods (see Section C).

Brief reports from the Commission’s four Committees were discussed, charting the progress of various aspects of the EOC’s work in the past quarter.

(A) Complaint Handling

A total of 640 complaints were received from January to August 2009, compared with 531 in the same period last year, representing an increase of 21%. In the past 8 months, complaints under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO) accounted for the majority of complaints received :

379 Complaints under the DDO (59%)
235 Complaints under the SDO (37%)
19 Complaints under the FSDO (3%)
7 Complaints under the RDO (1%)

Statistics for the first eight months of 2009

	2008 (Jan to Aug)	2009 (Jan to Aug)	Compared with same period last year
Complaints under Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO)	293 (55%)	379(59%)	+29%
Complaints under Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO)	212 (40%)	235(37%)	+11%
Complaints under Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO)	26 (5%)	19 (3%)	-27%
Complaints under Race Discrimination Ordinance (RDO)	not applicable	7(1%)	not applicable
Total:	531	640	+21%

DDO

From January to August 2009, 379 complaints were received, representing an increase of 29% over the same period last year, when 293 complaints were received. 134 complaints on sick-leave were received, representing an increase of 41% over the same period last year when 95 complaints were received.
The number of complaints on accessibility issues was increased by 63% to 39, compared with 24 cases received in the previous year.

Complaints lodged under the DDO	2008 (Jan to Aug)	2009 (Jan to Aug)	Compared with same period last year
Sick leave	95	134	+41%
Accessibility	24	39	+63%

SDO

From January to August 2009, 235 complaints were received, representing an increase of 11% over the same period in 2008, when 212 complaints were received. Most cases were related to pregnancy discrimination (130 cases) and sexual harassment (68 cases). The figures for such complaints in 2008 were 106 and 58 respectively.

Complaints lodged under the SDO	2008 (Jan to Aug)	2009 (Jan to Aug)	Compared with same period last year
Pregnancy discrimination	106	130	+23%
Sexual harassment	58	68	+17%

RDO

Since the implementation of the RDO and its Code of Practice on Employment from 10 July 2009, a total of 7 complaints were received, consisting 4 employment related and 3 non-employment related cases. The allegations of employment cases are associated with the renewal of contract, less favourable treatment and harassing remarks, while the allegations of non-employment cases are associated with provision of goods and services, management of premises and translation.

(B) Legal Assistance

Legal assistance was granted to 13 cases among the 25 applications received between January and June 2009. The number of legal assistance granted increased by 63%, compared with the 8 cases where legal assistance was granted in the same period last year.

	2008 (Jan to June)	2009 (Jan to June)	Compared with same period last year
Number of applications for legal assistance received	14	25	+79%
Number of legal assistance granted	8	13	+63%

(C) Training

The number of training courses held in the first six months of 2009 was 222, representing an increase of 64% compared with the same period of 2008. A total of 10,297 participants attended our training courses from January to June 2009, representing an increase of 82% over the same period in 2008, when 5,659 participants enrolled in our training courses.

	2008 (Jan to June)	2009 (Jan to June)	Compared with same period last year
Training courses held	135	222	+64%
No. of participants	5,659	10,297	+82%

Media enquiries: Ms. Mariana LAW (Tel : 2106-2226)

17 September 2009

Equal Opportunities Commission