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Discrimination

Discrimination is currently the fastest growing practice area

Discrimination is an issue which is very much on the mind of every employer – whether private or public. The EU regulation of the area and the advent of the Danish Board of Equal Treatment in particular have made this one of the busiest areas for firms like ours.

We advise on how to draft anti-discrimination policies, train managers and design recruitment and dismissal procedures to minimise the risk of claims. And we represent employers who are faced with discrimination claims.

Discrimination and differential treatment litigation is currently where employers in both the private and public sector face the largest claims within the area of labour and employment law, and the cases are also some of the most complicated because they involve Danish as well as EU statutory law and case law.

We recently

  • assisted a number of companies and organisations in various complex matters arising out of the #MeToo campaign
  • represented the employer in the so-called ”obesity case” before the EU court, the district court and the high court. The case was about the fundamental question concerning the extent to which obesity can constitute a disability within the meaning of the Danish Anti-Discrimination Act
  • successfully conducted a number of Supreme Court cases regarding the scope of employers’ obligations in relation to disabled employees and employees with disabled children
  • successfully conducted a case before the Danish Supreme Court concerning the issue of whether the special Danish rules on wages for under-18s are incompatible with EU law
  • conducted the group of test cases in the Danish Eastern High Court and the Danish Supreme Court concerning the consequences of the EU Court’s ruling on the provisions of the Danish Salaried Employees Act with regard to termination pay
  • conducted a precedent-setting Supreme Court case concerning the question of whether it is in conflict with Denmark’s obligations under EU law that Danish employers are not required to pay salary to employees during a notice period which coincides with the relevant employee’s unpaid parental leave
  • advised companies and organisations on the difficult distinction between illness and disability
  • advised clients on the protection of pregnant employees, employees on maternity leave and employees undergoing fertility treatment in connection with major collective redundancy processes

Contact

At Norrbom Vinding, you will have the most experienced litigators arguing your case, and we defend employers almost on a weekly basis against discrimination claims"

Yvonne Frederiksen

Yvonne Frederiksen

Partner LLM

Sara Baldus

Sara Baldus

Senior Associate

Information about Discrimination and differential treatment

Erhvervsmæssig beskæftigelse eller ej?

Et medlem af en pensionskasse, der ikke blev indstillet som kandidat til pensionskassens bestyrelse, kunne ikke påberåbe sig beskyttelsen mod forskelsbehandling på grund af alder, idet et medlemskab af bestyrelsen ikke er omfattet af begrebet erhvervsmæssig beskæftigelse i henhold til forskelsbehandlingsloven og beskæftigelsesdirektivet.

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Dyrepasseren og piloten

Det var ikke i strid med ligelønsloven, at en mandlig ministerchauffør modtog et højere kvalifikationstillæg end en kvindelig ministerchauffør, da han havde relevant erhvervserfaring.

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Udklædning eller ballade

Det udgjorde forskelsbehandling på grund af religion, at en daginstitution stillede krav om, at en pædagogmedhjælper, der var Jehovas Vidne, skulle klæde sig ud til institutionens fastelavnsfest.

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