EFHR fights with discrimination in electronic space

For several years the European Fundation of Human Rights (EFHR), together with the Office of the Equal Opportunities, has struggled with discriminatory job offers that appear on the Internet and in the press.

Art. 11 of the Law on Equal Treatment stipulates that job advertisements as well as state service and learning offers cannot include requirements that refer to dicrimination on the grounds of sex, race, nationality, language, origin, social status, religion, beliefs and opinions, age, sexual orientation, disability, ethnic origin or religion.

According to Art. 11 of the Law on Equal Treatment, job advertisements as well as state service and learning offers cannot include requirements that refer to dicrimination on the grounds of sex or ask jobseekers to provide information on their family situation, age, private life or family plans.

In 2016 EFHR made a complaint about possible discrimination in 22 cases, including 10 cases on the grounds of age, 6 cases on the grounds of sex and 4 cases that concerned age and sex requirements for candidates.

Upon receipt of the complaints, the Office conducted a research on its own initiative. The Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson stated that 17 job offers were inconsistent with the Art. 11 on equal opportunities because they dicriminated in favour of the people of a particular sex and age. Directors of the aforementioned companies received warnings and agreed to be bound by the law.

In 2015 EFHR, together with the Office of the Equal Opportunities, decided to reduce the number of discriminating job offers in the future – it created a leaflet with the information on how to prepare a job offer properly, without prejudice to provisions of the acts, and disseminated it among employers. The leaflet was published on the Office site and the EFHR website http://www.lygybe.lt/lt/atmintinedarbdaviams.

EFHR