Anti-discrimination In Germany
The Allgemeine Gleichbehandlungsgesetz” or “AGG” or act on Equal treatment is simply put and anti-discrimination doctrine. It exists to ensure that people are treated equally, and in the lens of labor disputes, ensures that working conditions and opportunities are not different based on one’s background.
Specifically, the act protects against discrimination on the basis oft gender, religion, disability, race, ethnic origin, age and sexual identity - and a few different lenses:
Direct discrimination: being treated differently based on one or more of the factors listed above. For example: Sandra has only been giving projects to members of the marketing team that are from Germany, even though all members of the team are equally qualified to take on the projects.
Indirect discrimination: factors that through being neutral indirectly create opportunities for discrimination. For example: Audrey, Sandra’’s manager, does not put any limitation on how many projects a person can get and does not have any rules in place to ensure work is distributed equally amongst team members.
Harassment: treating people without dignity they are entitled to due the factors above: Example: Sandra has been calling the people who are not from Germany derogatory names behind their back.
Sexual Harassment: treating people without the dignity they are entitled with sexual suggestion or pressure. Example: Sandra has made jokes to specific employees that they should having sexual relations in the office to “get ahead”.
Note that it is also against the law to instruct anyone to do any of the above, even if not directly involved. These matters are taken seriously, and the burden of proof is generally on the defendant to provide evidence of this not occurring assuming a plaintiff makes initial claims. In regards to indirect discrimination, it sometimes needs a bit more understanding of the facts of the case to be determined. One factor being if the group in question is statistically more disadvantaged (for example: effects foreigners or women).
The law protects people within different situations including but not limited to: working/employment environment, education, housing, membership to employee association or professional groups (including unions), social benefits, career advice and vocational training.
This is definitely not an easy subject matter to address or to prosecute, primarily because it’s also very emotional and can be traumatizing to those that have gone through the experience. That being said, if you do believe you have been discriminated against on any of these grounds, we suggest keeping a track of the occurrences and documenting the proof for your use and speaking to a lawyer about your options.
If you believe any of these were grounds for a recent termination, we suggest you speak to a labor lawyer as soon as possible to ensure litigations can be processed within the statute of limitations.