This is proving to be a significant period in the development of
employment law in Jersey. The Discrimination (Jersey) Law 2013 came
into force on 1 September 2014, making any form of discrimination
against a person based on race illegal. And, just prior to this,
the States approved the proposed Employment (Amendment No 8)
(Jersey) Law (the "Law") which will introduce more
'family friendly rights' for Jersey employees in late 2015.
Key changes under the Law include entitlements to maternity leave,
adoption leave, parental leave, and the right to request flexible
working hours.
Whilst each area will be discussed in detail below, it is
helpful to understand the background.
During the consultation process it was recognised that, over the
past 40 years, the amount of women in employment in the Island had
increased from 37% to 80%. With more women than ever in full or
part time employment, the traditional roles of men and women have
changed with more women opting to
