Brussels, 11/07/2008 (Agence Europe) - In a ruling published on Thursday 10 July 2008, the Court of Justice of the European Communities (CJEC) says that a Belgian company infringed the EU anti-discrimination directive by not wanting to recruit immigrant workers. Nobody came forward to complain about being refused a job by the company in question but the Court ruled that in the absence of an identifiable complainant, the employer's public statements that it did not recruit immigrants constituted illegal discrimination (C-54/07).
The Court's ruling answers questions from the Brussels labour court (Arbeidshof te Brussel), which wanted to know whether the appeal by a Belgian anti-discrimination pressure group, the 'Centre pour l'Égalité des Chances et la Lutte contre le Racisme' (CGKR, name of the organisation in Dutch: 'Centrum voor gelijkheid van kansen en voor racismebestrijding') was valid. Its appeal against the employer in question was rejected by the president of the Brussels labour court (the 'voorzitter van de arbeidsrechtbank te Brussel') arguing that because the employer had not actually refused any individual a job, there was no discrimination and the CGKR did not represent any injured party. The CGKR appealed to the Brussels labour court against this rejection of its case and the court sent the case to the CJEC.
In the original case, Pascal Feryn, the director of a garage door installation company, told Belgian Dutch-language newspaper De Standaard that his company was seeking new staff but did not want Moroccans because of preferences expressed by its clients. The CJEC ruled that these statements constituted an infringement of EU Council Directive 2000/43/EC on equal treatment and clearly infringed the principle of promoting a labour market that favours social insertion, even though no candidates were personally rejected by Pascal Feryn. The Court added that the burden of proof lay with the Feryn company, in other words the company must demonstrate that its employment policy is not discriminatory.
Belgian equal opportunities minister Joelle Milquet welcomed the ruling, which reinforces the provisions of Council Directive 2000/43/EC on equal treatment. In a press release, she said that many employers in Belgium were seriously implementing a diversity policy in their company in daily life. At EU level, the ruling strengthens the position of people feeling they have been discriminated against. A Brussels labour law expert commented that the Court of Justice had confirmed CGKR's appeal as a plaintiff and had advised that Belgian law should grant it compensation even though the CGKR had not been directly damaged by the employer's behaviour. The expert said he imagined this could encourage others to challenge decisions elsewhere in Europe. Another specialist said that the burden of proof had been laid upon he employer whenever there is suspicion of discrimination, for example through statements in the media, adding that this could have a big impact on employers' attitudes. He noted that age and gender criteria for jobs may be considered illegal. A lawyer in London said that the British authorities which, along with authorities in Ireland, had intervened against the illegality of Feryn's statements, would now have to read the ruling carefully to ensure that UK and Irish legislation meets the directive's requirements. (O.L.)