Pest County Labour Court ruled against employer, who refused qualified Roma applicants

Alert DateSeptember 16, 2005 Country: Hungary Address: Pest General Type: Discrimination Racism and discrimination phenomena: Anti-roma/zinghanophobia
Groups affected / Interested in: Roma & Travelers
Victims Data
Victims Nationality/Ethnic Origin Hungarian
Victims Gender N/A
Victims Age N/A
Victims Number N/A
Fatalities - deaths N/A
Perpetrators Data
Perpetrators Nationality/Ethnic Origin Hungarian
Perpetrator Gender Male
Perpetrator Age N/A
Perpetrators Number N/A
Extremist/Organised Group Violence No

In 2005, Mr. Csaba T., a skilled applicant found a job advertisement in newspaper Expressz. He called the advertiser, but when the contractor heard that he is Roma, he said that he would not hire workers of Roma origin. After the phone call, the claimant contacted a professional NGO, the Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI), which used  a testing method to collect evidence: test persons called the company again and again. Each time a person introduced himself with a pseudonym, and every time he used a typical Roma name, he got the answer that there is no free position, while there was free vacancy for applicants with non-Roma names. NEKI filed a law-suit against the contractors on grounds of discrimination. [1] In 2006, 1 year after the incident, the Pest County Labour Court ruled against the employer, and charged the company with a 700.000 Ft penalty. [2]

Source:

 

[1] Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) 'T. Csaba ügye (2005)' ['Case T. Csaba 2005'],  1.01.2005, available at: http://www.neki.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=215:t-csaba-&catid=19:foglalkoztatas&Itemid=82 (Date of access: 20.02.2012)

[2] Legal Defence Bureau for National and Ethnic Minorities (NEKI) 'T. Csaba ügye (B. város) 2008'  [Case T. Csaba (B. city) 2008'], 01.04.2010., available at: http://www.neki.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=429:t-csaba-uegye-b-varos-2008&catid=19:foglalkoztatas&Itemid=82 (Date of access: 20.02.2012)