The Court of Justice of the European Communities gave a judgement on July 10, in a case where an employer said in a public statement that he would not recruit immigrants. According to the Court, there can be direct discrimination in the absence of an identifiable complainant, and this stateemnt constitutes direct discrimination in respect of recruitment. It also says that Member States may, while ensuring that the directive's provisions are complied with, allow associations or other legal entitites, to bring legal proceedings in the absence of an identifiable victim. (Ref. 080581)
Facts. The Belgian body designated to promote
equal treatment applied to the labor court for a finding that the undertaking into
question applied a discriminatory recruitment policy on the basis of the public statements of the director. The latter said
that he could not employ ‘immigrants’ because its customers were reluctant. The
labor court dismissed the application on the grounds that there was no proof or
presumption that a person had applied for a job and had not been employed as a
result of his ethnic origin.
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