Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all directives)

• Author: Koldinská, Kristina
• Pages: 54-58

54

11 Compliance and enforcement aspects (horizontal provisions of all

directives)

11.1 General (legal) context

11.1.1 Surveys and reports about the particular difficulties related to obtaining legal

redress

A report by the Public Defender of Rights on victims of discrimination and barriers to

enforcing their rights, published in 2015,87 identified several barriers but with no specific

information on family-related leave.

At the same time, discrimination against women on maternity and parental leave has

been identified as the most urgent issue in relation to discrimination against women.

The Public Defender of Rights study identified access to information, stereotypes,

victimisation and low confidence of a positive outcome in a possible dispute as the most

important barriers for victims. As there are only a few cases, victims are often unsure

about the possible outcome and feel discouraged from initiating a complaint. This is

exacerbated by the fact that even judges often make their decisions according to deep-

rooted stereotypes. Victims also often lack money in order to initiate a complaint.88

This study further confirms that very few discrimination cases are brought (around 60)

and that remedies are quite low – approximately EUR 10 000 on average.

In order to minimise or dismantle these barriers, the Public Defender of Rights

recommended supporting awareness-raising campaigns, working more on further

education of judges, lawyers, labour inspectors and other professions, supporting

campaigns to eradicate stereotypes, increasing monetary remedies, providing better

access to justice for victims (bearing in mind the costs of procedures), introducing actio

popularis, making the reasoning of judgements more detailed, making decision-making

by public offices better and more accessible and making fines work better.89

The annual reports of the national equality body (the Public Defender of Rights) are

rather general, as they cover many issues and topics. They do not highlight enforcement

issues in particular.

There is a report by the Public Defender of Rights on harmonising family and professional

life in ministries. This study highlights the fact that having a position of coordinator for

equal treatment is not effective enough. The coordinator often has other tasks and deals

with problems other than those connected with the topic of this study.90

87 Public Defender of Rights (2015) Diskriminace v ČR: ob diskriminace a její pekážky v pístupu ke

spravedlnosti (Discrimination in the Czech Republic: victim of discrimination and barriers to access to

justice, final report from a survey conducted by the Public Defender of Rights), Brno. Available at:

www.ochrance.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/ESO/CZ_Diskriminace_v_CR_vyzkum_01.pdf.

88 Public Defender of Rights (2015) Diskriminace v ČR: ob diskriminace a její pekážky v pístupu ke

spravedlnosti (Discrimination in the Czech Republic: victim of discrimination and barriers to access to

justice, final report from a survey conducted by the Public Defender of Rights), Brno. Available at:

www.ochrance.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/ESO/CZ_Diskriminace_v_CR_vyzkum_01.pdf, pp. 83-84.

89 Public Defender of Rights (2015) Diskriminace v ČR: ob diskriminace a její pekážky v pístupu ke

spravedlnosti (Discrimination in the Czech Republic: victim of discrimination and barriers to access to

justice, final report from a survey conducted by the Public Defender of Rights), Brno. Available at:

www.ochrance.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/ESO/CZ_Diskriminace_v_CR_vyzkum_01.pdf, pp. 138-141.

90 Šabatová, A., Hampl, S., Maíková, H., Urbániková, M., Kvasnicová, J. (2015) Slaování pracovního,

osobního a rodinného života na ministerstvech ČR (Reconciling work, personal and family life at the

ministries of the Czech Republic), Kancelá VOP. Available at:

www.ochrance.cz/fileadmin/user_upload/ESO/101-2017-DIS-JKV-vyzkumna_zprava.pdf, p. 10.