Please note that this is a simplified description of the equal treatment law. For that reason, you cannot derive any rights from it. A translation of the Equal Treatment Act can be found on this website.
Equal treatment law stipulates that it is unlawful to discriminate against someone on the ground of:
- religion
- belief
- political orientation
- race
- gender
- nationality
- sexual orientation
- civil status
- disability or chronic illness
- age
- duration of employment relation (fulltime op parttime)*
- temporary or permanent employment contract*
We call these the 'grounds of discrimination'. It is unlawful to treat people differently on these grounds of discrimination in several specific situations.
There is a difference between 'direct' and 'indirect' discrimination. Direct discrimination is unequal treatment based on one of the grounds of discrimination and situations listed above. If someone is not allowed to rent an apartment because he is a homosexual, he is a victim of direct discrimination.
Indirect discrimination occurs when a requirement seems neutral, but indirectly leads to discrimination on one of the grounds of discrimination. An example is a job advertisement for bulb peelers in which fluency in Dutch is required. The requirement may seem neutral, but can lead to the unequal treatment of ethnic minorities. After all, it is more difficult for them to meet the requirement.
Direct discrimination is (almost) always unlawful. Indirect discrimination is only allowed when it is objectively justified. A bulb peeler does not need to be fluent in Dutch, but a newsreader on a Dutch television channel does.
*These grounds of discrimination only concern the relationship between employer and employee.