8. “Well, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…” :
An employee who is over sixty years old and
is the butt of jokes such as this has a case for
age discrimination. This is a growing area of
Employment Law in the Caribbean, as more
persons reaching retirement find themselves still
working to maintain their lifestyles and resisting
entering the next phase of their lives…retirement.
Ageist jokes can make older employees feel
displaced and unwelcomed by their younger
colleagues.
9. “You will never make it to Heaven if you keep
that up!”:
Religion is something that should not be joked
about at all. Whether you, as an employer,
are particularly religious or not, belong to the
same religious denomination or not, you should
RESPECT everyone’s religion. Commenting that
an employee will not go to Heaven because of a
late night out etc, is simply inappropriate.
10. “Is that your name on the door?”:
If you have to remind your employee that you
are the boss, then it is either time to relieve
the employee of his or her duties or re-think
why your name is on the door. It sounds
unprofessional and insecure.
Trudy O. Glasgow, B.A (History), LL.B (Hons.), B.V.C., LL.M, P.C.H.E,
is a practising attorney at the law firm of Trudy O. Glasgow &
Associates in Rodney Bay, Gros Islet, a court-appointed mediator
and writer in Saint Lucia (and has also taught law at University level
in the U.K.). Ms. Glasgow sits on various boards and committees,
including Co-Chair of 100 Women Who Care, Saint Lucia chapter;
Chairperson of the National Research and Development Foundation
(NRDF); former Board member of the Legal Aid Board; and
Secretary of the Rotary Club of Gros Islet. She wrote a weekly legal
column, Simply Law, in The Voice newspaper for eight years (July
2007-September 2015) and resumed in The Mirror newspaper from
February 2016 to present, and published a book which is a selection
of her articles with some new material.
www.slyoumag.com | February - April 2020
SL-YOU | It’s All About Business 9