John Arnold, a prominent cultural figure in Tobago, serves as a commissioner in the Equal Opportunity Commission. The EOC safeguards citizens against discrimination in areas such as employment and education, ensuring fair treatment regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, marital status, and gender. Arnold emphasized that the EOC addresses issues in both the public and private sectors. He encouraged individuals to visit the EOC website to file complaints.
Arnold pointed out that persons receive feedback in a timely manner and proceeded to explain the process of how the EOC handles complaints. “The complaint procedure is very simple, submission, then investigation which is asking both parties you know the equal opportunities will tell the person who is not the complainer, the other person um well you know this came in, can you tell us what has happened? So you get both sides and both sides are called to what we call conciliation.“
He further explained that both parties sit with a qualified conciliator who attempts to resolve the issue. However, if no resolution is achieved, there is the option of taking the matter to the Equal Opportunity Tribunal. “So there is a special court which is independent of EOC but works collaboratively with us. So only when we don’t, we cannot finalize in terms of you feel you didn’t like what the, what you got from the EOC, what was the resolve, resolution, you can then ask for it to be referred to the EOT.”
Arnold noted that this process is free and stated that it is one of the government services that provides equal opportunity to everyone who feels aggrieved or discriminated against.
