James Debono

The National Commission for the Promotion of Equality will be seeking all the necessary information from the Police Corps about the case involving a police woman recruit who was not allowed to pursue her career in the force after getting pregnant.
The recruit was ordered by her doctor not to continue the physical part of her training on account of her pregnancy.
Citing the law which states that “the Commissioner may initiate investigations on any matter involving an act or omission that is allegedly unlawful” and which states that “discrimination based on sex or because of family responsibilities” unlawful, Commissioner Sina Bugeja promised that the NCPE will intervene.
“NCPE will definitely be looking at gender discrimination as well as discrimination based on family responsibilities in the Police Corps. Already NCPE has worked closely with the army and a sexual harassment policy is now in place. NCPE will be seeking all the necessary information from the Police Corps to ensure that it has a clear understanding of the situation and act accordingly,” Bugeja told MaltaToday.
But since the person concerned has not referred her complaint to the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality, the NCPE cannot give any assistance to the recruit on whose case the Commission has absolutely no details.
But Sina Bugeja made it clear that on the basis of the information available, the police recruit should have been allowed to continue her training.
“At face value and based on what has been made public about the case, NCPE is of the opinion that since the person in question met the necessary criteria for joining the Police Corps, she has a right to continue with the training where she left due to her pregnancy. I am also assuming that she was advised by her medical doctor not to continue with the training.”
The police force justified the recruit’s dismissal stating that the opportunity for this woman to have a chance to follow her career in the Police Force has not been denied. Since she is still young, she still has the opportunity to file another application to follow another recruits training course, whenever she feels fit to undergo all phases of the training course as clearly laid down in the call for applications as published in the Government Gazette.
But Bugeja makes it clear that the women’s age “should not be part of the discussion at all.”
The attitude of the police force was described as a discriminatory one by shadow minister for justice Gavin Gulia who raised this issue in a parliamentary question on Wednesday.
But the police force denies any charge of sexual discrimination. “The decision to stop this Police recruit from continuing the training course as a result of her pregnancy, was mainly due to the fact that, as sustained by a medical certificate, and a declaration by the recruit legal representative, this recruit was unable to further her physical training and other training such as unarmed combat, since it may endanger both her life and that of her baby,” a spokesperson for the police force told MaltaToday.
The police force’s decision to dismiss the recruit comes in the wake of an EU Commission reprimand on Maltese laws which allow employers to sack employees for whatever reason during their probation.
Malta’s employment laws are likely to be amended after the European Commission insisted that women must not be dismissed during their probationary period if they become pregnant.

jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt