• What is the dialogue "They just stuck me in the kitchen.... " about?

Daniel feels angry and powerless. He feels himself to be the victim of discrimination and doesn’t know what to do about it. The following text offers more information on discrimination and the possibility of fighting it.

• What is...?

Racial discrimination: Different treatment of an individual or group of people motivated by their dissimilarity (otherness).

Direct discrimination: A case in which one person is treated less favourably than is, was, or would be another person in a comparable situation.

Indirect discrimination: A case in which a seemingly neutral provision, criterion or practice causes a disadvantage to a person, unless this provision, criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim and unless the means by which it is attained are reasonable and essential (such a justified instance could be, for example, the acceptance of only “white Czechs” for the position of secret agents whose job will be to investigate fraud in the Consolidation Agency).

Harassment: Harassment refers to conduct which a second person is entitled to perceive as unwelcome, inappropriate or insulting, and the aim or consequence of which leads to that person’s dignity being compromised or to the creation of an unfriendly, degrading or uncomfortable environment.

Sexual harassment: Sexual harassment refers to any form of undesirable verbal or other behaviour of a sexual character, the aim or consequence of which is a disturbance of a person’s dignity, especially if an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or insulting environment is created.

Other harassment: Harassment for reason of gender, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, physical handicap, age, religion or faith, and sexual harassment are regarded as forms of discrimination.

• Topic

One of the international obligations of the Czech Republic is to provide protection, not only against racial violence, but against another form of racism, racial discrimination. This obligation also ensues from membership of the Czech Republic in the European Union, specifically Directive 43/2000/EC.
National legislation, as opposed to the legislation offering protection against violent discrimination, is then broken down further into various norms of either public or private law. The difference can be explained most simply as follows: in the case of public law, the state delegates a duty to prosecute discriminatory conduct to certain bodies of the public administration and offers them for this purpose with the requisite authority. A citizen who becomes a victim of discrimination reports the offence at the appropriate body of the public administration, which investigates the event and, if discrimination is proven, imposes a sanction. The citizen is not a party to the proceedings, they do not have a duty to find evidence of discriminatory conduct, but they have the opportunity to influence the procedure. In the case of protection against discrimination using the resources of private law, the citizen basically uses constitutional law for their legal protection. They sue for reparation before the courts, they are a party to the proceedings and can thus influence the course of the proceedings, especially by virtue of the fact that they themselves put forward evidence and express an opinion regarding the testimony and proof of the defendant.

The resources of public law for protection against non-violent discrimination: The state has invested authority in bodies of the public administration to punish discriminatory conduct in the spheres of employment and consumer protection, which will be described separately in the following text.

Employment
Protection against discrimination in the sphere of employment is set forth mainly in the Employment Act (Act 435/2004, as amended), which lays down a duty (especially on employers) to ensure equal treatment of all individuals exercising their right to employment. In this respect unequal treatment does not refer to the distinctions specified by the law or by other regulations. This Act outlaws direct and indirect discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, racial or ethnic origin, nationality, citizenship, social origin, family, family, state of health, age, religion or faith, property, marital status or duties to one’s family, political or other opinions, and membership and activities in political parties or movements, trade unions, or employers’ organisations; discrimination for reason of pregnancy or motherhood is deemed to be discrimination for reason of gender. Conduct including the promotion of, encouragement or incitement to discrimination is also deemed to be discrimination.
If it ensues from the character of the employment that the reason for different treatment is a substantial and decisive requirement for the performance of the work which an individual has to perform, and which is essential for the performance of this employment, this is not deemed to be discrimination; the objective monitored by such an exception must be justified and the requirements must be commensurate. This Act also defines direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, and other harassment (c.f. What is…?).

If there is a breach of the rights and duties ensuing from the concept of equal treatment, or if discrimination takes place under the aforementioned Act, the injured party has the right to demand that such a breach be discontinued, that the consequences of the breach be removed, and that they be provided with reasonable satisfaction.
If the dignity or self-respect of the injured party was considerably reduced and sufficient compensation was not provided as described above, they have the right to compensation for the detriment in money, regarding which the courts reach a decision on the basis of their claim (here there is an overlap with protection under private law as described above).

If, therefore, a situation occurs in which a job applicant is rejected by an employer and believes that the reason given was bogus and that the main reason was their nationality, ethnic or racial origin, this is an instance of discrimination under the Act referred to and it is necessary to inform the control body, i.e. the Labour Office with jurisdiction. The report submitted must contain the name and address of the aggrieved party (and the party discriminated against if a different party submits the complaint), the date, and a precise description of the course of the negotiations with the employer.

Consumer protection
Protection of the consumer against discrimination in relation to a wide range of services is set forth in Act 634/1992 Coll., on consumer protection, as amended.

This defines protection of the consumer against discrimination thus: when selling products and providing services, a seller may not act at variance with good ethics; above all, they may not discriminate against the consumer in any way. In other words, the seller may not deny anyone the provision of its products or services because the consumer is of a different race or nationality, for instance. In this sphere, the state has invested the Czech Commercial Inspection with the authority to control and impose sanctions. If it discovers unlawful conduct, it is entitled to impose on the service provider a penalty of up to CZK 1,000,000. When specifying the level of the penalty, it must take into account the character of the unlawful conduct and the extent of the consequences thereof. It is entitled to impose a fine of up to CZK 2,000,000 for repeated breach of duties during the course of one year.

Similarly to discrimination in the sphere of employment, it is necessary to submit a complaint to the Czech Commercial Inspection, which contains a precise description of the event, the date, and a contact to the aggrieved party.

Resources under private law for protection against non-violent discrimination
A citizen who becomes the victim of non-violent discrimination has the possibility, inter alia, to contact the appropriate body of the public administration authorised to punish such discrimination, or to resolve the matter themselves through the courts. As well as discrimination in the sphere of employment or consumer protection, they may take action in the event of experiencing discrimination applied to access to education, health and social care, etc.

The general principle of civil law procedures is that one must provide proof of what one is claiming. An amendment to the Rules of Civil Procedure has established the principle of transferred burden of proof, specifically in paragraph 133 a (Act 99/1963 Coll., as amended), in disputes involving discrimination. This means that if the person who is discriminated against believes that said discrimination took place because of their gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion, faith, opinion, handicap, age or sexual orientation, they file a suit with the courts. The courts will decide that the discrimination genuinely took place unless the defendant can prove otherwise. In brief, the defendant must demonstrate that it did not act in a discriminatory fashion for whatever reason.

This transferred burden of proof is applied in all cases of discrimination brought under labour law, as well as in the spheres of health and social care, access to education and vocational training, access to public contracts, membership in organisations of employees or employers and membership in professional and special-interest organisations, and during the sale of goods in a shop or the provision of services.

In my opinion, what we see in the dialogue is a classic case of direct discrimination, which takes in the search for voluntary work.

• Stories and examples

Direct discrimination
Mrs. BB is a Czech teacher who mainly teaches courses intended for Roma pupils. She is a Roma and is aware of how important it is for the Roma minority to have mastery of the language of the majority. After a seminar for Czech teachers, she nipped out to a nearby fast-food establishment. As soon as she joined the queue, the staff asked her to leave because they did not want Roma people in their shop. Mrs. BB left feeling humiliated.

Indirect discrimination
A small town in Northern Moravia decided that it would no longer continue to support inflexible citizens, and changed the rules applying to the allocation of council flats. It was now only possible to submit an application for a council flat if you were an adult citizen of the Czech Republic with their permanent residence in this town for at least two years, and with at least five years of a clean criminal record. The condition applying to the criminal record disqualified 90% of the local Roma community from applying for a council flat.

• Sources

References:

Zákon o zaměstnanosti (zákon č. 435/2004 Sb. ve znění pozdějších předpisů)

Zákon o ochraně spotřebitele (zákon č. 634/1992 Sb. ve znění pozdějších předpisů)

Občanský soudní řád (zákon č. 99/1963 Sb., ve znění pozdějších předpisů)

Evropská direktiva 43/2000/EC