Discrimination at work involves unequal treatment of employees in establishing and terminating employment relationships, determining employment conditions, promotion opportunities, and access to training to improve professional qualifications. The Labor Code lists, for example, a list of grounds for which an employee cannot be discriminated against. It's worth noting that this is an open list, and the reasons include, in particular:
- sex,
- age,
- disability,
- race,
- religion,
- nationality,
- political beliefs,
- trade union membership,
- ethnic origin,
- confession,
- sexual orientation,
- employment for a fixed or indefinite period,
- full-time or part-time employment.
We distinguish direct discrimination , which occurs when an employee was, is or could be treated differently, less favourably than other employees in a similar situation due to an objective criterion or characteristic (this refers to age, gender, race, religion, etc.).
An example of direct discrimination is when a woman receives less pay than a man despite performing the same job. Another example would be an employer introducing training within the organization aimed solely at employees under 50.
Indirect discrimination occurs when an apparently neutral, non-differentiating criterion puts a given employee or group of employees in a worse situation than others due to an objective criterion (e.g. gender, age, sexual orientation, etc.).
An example of such discrimination may be a situation where an employer introduces into the bonus regulations that it will be awarded to employees who have produced a certain number of items in the production plant, while part-time employees will not have the opportunity to produce a sufficient number of given items, which means that they will not be entitled to receive the bonus.
Discrimination also includes any action that encourages another person to violate the principle of equal treatment in employment or orders them to violate this principle, as well as undesirable conduct that has the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of an employee and creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive atmosphere towards him ( harassment ).
Harassment occurs when the reason for the undesirable conduct is one of the discriminatory criteria, in particular: gender, age, disability, race, religion, nationality, political beliefs, trade union membership, ethnic origin, denomination, sexual orientation, employment for a fixed or indefinite period, full-time or part-time employment.
Sexual harassment is a type of gender discrimination . It occurs when the conduct is undesirable, relates to the employee's gender, or is of a sexual nature, and has the purpose or effect of violating the employee's dignity, in particular by creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating, or offensive environment.
Sexual harassment can be verbal, nonverbal, or physical. Examples include sexual blackmail, crude jokes, or inciting someone to engage in sexual activity by taking advantage of someone.
It is important that an employee's submission to harassment or sexual harassment, as well as taking action to oppose harassment or sexual harassment, cannot result in any negative consequences for the employee.
Other manifestations of discrimination at work include the employer's violation of a fundamental principle in employee management – the principle of equal treatment .
A breach of this principle in employment is considered to be the employer's differentiation of the employee's situation for one or more of the above-mentioned reasons, resulting in particular in the refusal to enter into or termination of an employment relationship, unfavorable remuneration or other terms of employment, or omission in promotion or granting other work-related benefits, or omission in the selection for participation in training to improve professional qualifications.
The legislator has shifted the burden of proof to the employer to prove that he was guided by objective reasons when differentiating the employee's situation based on the above-mentioned reasons.
The second important principle is the equal treatment of employees in terms of remuneration . Employees have the right to equal remuneration for equal work or work of equal value. Work of equal value is work whose performance requires comparable professional qualifications, confirmed by documents or professional practice and experience, as well as comparable responsibility and effort.
Remuneration includes all components of remuneration, regardless of their name and nature, as well as other work-related benefits granted to employees in cash or in a form other than cash.
An employee whose rights are violated has the right to compensation in an amount not lower than the minimum wage.
If an employee exercises his or her rights arising from a breach of labour law, including the principle of equal treatment in employment, this may not constitute a basis for any unfavourable treatment of the employee, and may not result in any negative consequences for the employee, in particular it may not constitute a reason justifying the termination of the employment relationship or its termination without notice by the employer.
Of course, not all situations of employee differentiation are illegal. For example, it is permissible for an employer to use seniority as a criterion when determining hiring and firing conditions, remuneration and promotion policies, and access to training to improve professional qualifications.
For more information on labor law, please contact our law firm.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.
Legal status as of February 8, 2024
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