Pares Inter Inequales? A First Glimpse of the Cases before Senate II of the Austrian Equal Treatment Commission

Abstract

This chapter undertakes a first explorative study of all the published decisions issued by Senate II of the Equal Treatment Commission between its establishment in 2004 and 2017, which deals with alleged discriminations on the grounds of age, ethnic origin, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. The aim of this contribution is to detect possible patterns in the practice of Senate II. It explores whether individual factors (such as gender or education), the workplace (e.g. job, sector), or aspects of the alleged discrimination (e.g. the moment of discrimination, that is harassment, or discrimination in the course of hiring or termination; grounds such as ethnicity, religion, or age; defendant as an individual or a corporation) influence the outcome of the procedure. By providing this analysis, the chapter challenges some widely held assumptions, such as that the Equal Treatment Commission is particularly applicant-friendly.