Last week, the Warszawa-Śródmieście District Court ruled that the termination of an employee for attending the Kraków Equality March was illegal and discriminatory. The claimant, Ariel T., was awarded compensation of roughly 600 euros (2,500 Polish złoty).
Ariel T. walked in the first rank of the 2012 Kraków Equality March, causing his participation to come to the attention of his colleagues and line managers at work. On the same day, his boss sent him a text message: “You have a day off tomorrow. From today you no longer work in our company. Sorry!” His managers then sent him a series of derogatory remarks concerning his sexual orientation and participation in the event. Thus after only six months of employment with the company, his contract was unceremoniously terminated.
The district court held that Ariel T. had been fired for the sole reason that his employer, knowing about Ariel T.’s participation in the Equality March, considered him a member of the LGBT community, a clear act of discrimination based on sexual orientation. The judgment awarded the claimant compensation for the financial loss stemming from his unemployment, but could not award compensation for personal and moral injury because Ariel T. refused to testify, thereby preventing the court from determining the extent of his personal suffering.
“What’s crucial is that the court accepted that in this case, direct discrimination had occurred by way of association; in other words, it was a situation where a person was treated in a less favorable way because of that person’s perceived affiliation with a given group, even though no actual affiliation has taken place,” said Dorota Pudzianowska, coordinator of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights's “Article 32” legal program. “Moreover, this judgment was among the first decisions made under the Equality Act, which implemented EU directives on equal treatment,” Dr. Pudzianowska added.
The Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights participated in the proceedings as a community organization.
The judgment is not yet final.
