Subjects:

Discrimination Law

Contents:

1. Introduction

2. The Employment Equality Directive and other aspects of European law

3. General situation with respect to sexual orientation discrimination at national level

4. Comparative analysis of legislation implementing the Directive in the fifteen old Member States

5. Implementation of the Directive in the ten new Member States and in the two acceding countries

6. Overview of the state of implementation of the Directive

7. Conclusions

Annex Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation

Bibliography

European and international case law

European Community legislation.

The Employment Equality Directive requires EU Member States to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in the field of employment. This book is the first to assess to what degree the Directive's requirements have been met by the twenty-five Member States and by Bulgaria and Romania.

The authors discuss the relevant aspects of EU law and provide a detailed analysis of the quality and conformity of national anti-discrimination legislation aimed at implementing the Employment Equality Directive. In this analysis special attention is paid to the implications of what distinguishes sexual orientation from other forbidden grounds of discrimination.

Therefore the book focuses on the various private and public aspects of sexual orientation, such as preference, behaviour, partnership and 'coming out'. It also discusses direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, permissible and impermissible exceptions, sanctions, and the role of interest groups and specialised enforcement bodies.