Chancengleichheit in der Beschäftigung

The legislation generally serves to protect of all male and female employees. Specifically targeting the protection of women, Article 6(4) states that female employees shall not perform work which, by its very nature,  may hold specific dangers for women or alternatively, women may only perform such work with certain restrictions or measures suitable to prevent such risks. The Federal Ministry of Labor shall specify those works in a separate regulation (Article 18 no. 2).

The legislation generally serves to protect all male and female employees. Specifically targeting the protection of women, Article 6(4) states that female employees shall not perform work that, by its very nature,  may hold specific dangers for women. Alternatively, women may only perform such work with certain restrictions or measures that prevent such risks. The Federal Ministry of Labor shall specify those works in a separate regulation (Article 18 no. 2).

The Federal Equality Act aims at creating equality throughout various service agreements (see Section 1) the Federal Government might have with individuals. The main body no. 1 (1. Hauptstück) focuses on the equal treatment of men and women (Section 3). Section 7(2) states that job advertisements should be written in such a way that they equally refer to both men and women and do not contain details that could lead to the conclusion that the advertisement is only for one gender.

The female appellant, a civil servant of the Office of the Austrian Labor Market, applied for a position as head of the relevant regional office with three other male candidates. One of the men was chosen for the position. The plaintiff claimed that she had been discriminated against on the grounds of sex, among  other reasons, because she was equally qualified for the position and the interviewer asked her why women could not find fulfilment in educating children during the application process.

Among other aspects, this act aims at ensuring gender equality in various areas of life, for instance, in the workplace. It addresses issues like equal opportunities for men and women as well as sexual harassment in the workplace. It also lists the authorities a person may turn to if  they feel they are being discriminated against. Notable is the shift of the burden of proof in Section 25: a discrimination claimant only has to credibly substantiate the claim, whereas the defending party has to prove that there was no discrimination.

The legislation shall support planning, execution, and controlling of personnel allocation on the Federal level. Personnel controlling shall ensure, inter alia, gender equality (Article 1 para. 1 no. 2). Therefore, Article 5 provides that federal service authorities shall submit to the chancellor biennially a report detailing the target quota of women holding the highest remuneration levels (para. 2).