Be the first contact point in a department to give advice on equal opportunity issues.
May be invited to serve as a member of the Discrimination Complaints Committee to conduct formal investigations.
Can help to promote equal opportunity in the department by:
Attending events of the Equal Opportunity Festival held annually.
Encouraging staff members of the department to participate in the events of the Equal Opportunity Festival.
Checking whether the website of the department is in line with the standing guidelines on web accessibility and if not, the EOA can help to amend the website or ask the departmental staff member to amend. Websites that are inaccessible to persons with a disability could be a kind of disability discrimination under the Disability Discrimination Ordinance. For testing techniques of web accessibility, please refer to the Web Accessibility Handbook (digitalpolicy.gov.hk) (Page 80, Ver 1.9).
As an EOA is the first contact person in a department to give advice on equal opportunity issues, what are the Dos & Don'ts in handling complaints?
Refer the case to the Equal Opportunity Unit or seek help from the Equal Opportunity Unit whenever you consider appropriate
Do not act as a judge
Write down the alleged events chronologically
Analyze the facts objectively
Be impartial
Examine whether the allegations could constitute prohibited discrimination/harassment
Explain the possible channels and let the Complainant choose the next step
Report to the Equal Opportunity Unit
Act in accordance with the Procedures in handling discrimination/harassment complaints of HKU
