Indicator history

The types of sanctions

Penal, administrative and civil sanctions applied in discrimination cases do not differ from sanctions applied for other disputes in the same field.

As a significant proportion of discrimination cases occur in the field of employment, the Labour Code[1] should be mentioned here. In cases of unlawful termination of employment, the judge is empowered to decide on the scale of compensation within the range of the amount from two to twelve months’ salary of the claimant. Additionally, the employer has to reimburse the claimant’s missed salary and other benefits, or other losses.

The Labour Code was amended in 2009.[2],The amended text defines the concept of “serious violation” of the requirement of legal employment. The main criterion for determining the existence of a serious violation is the recurrence of the illegal conduct (e.g. discriminatory conduct) of the employer.

In cases of discrimination, the Equal Treatment Authority is also competent to establish the serious violation of the requirement of legal employment (as equal treatment is considered to be an essential element of legal employment).If the same illegal, discriminative conduct occurs more than once within two years, the judgment is published on the webpage of ETA, and the employer is put on a list, which results in exclusion from public procurement procedures and exclusion from access to governmental and EU support funds.

If the ETA establishes the violation of the requirement of equal treatment, the following sanction may apply: 1) order to stop discrimination (non-legal conduct), 2) order to avoid the continuation of the unlawful conduct in the future; 3) publishing the decision that establishes the violation of the requirement of equal treatment), 4) issuing additional fines. The amount of the fine to be issued ranges from 50.000 HUF (approx. 175 EUR) to 6.000.000 HUF (approx. 21.000 EUR). With respect to judgments issued by the ETA, they are legally binding, no appeal within the framework of public administrative proceedings is possible;[3]. The decisions of the ETA are not modifiable or anullable within the minister’s[4] authority[5]. It is however possible to request judicial review of the decision by the Supreme Court.

The National Labour Inspectorate can 1) warn the employer to stop the unlawful conduct (e.g. discriminatory conduct); 2) order the employer to avoid the continuation of the unlawful conduct in the future; 3) recommend the issuance of a fine against the employer (the amount of the fine depends on certain conditions, e.g. the size of the company).

The National Office for Education[6] can issue a fine.

The National Consumer Protection Authority can 1) order termination of the discriminatory conduct; 2) order to avoid the continuation of the unlawful conduct in the future; 3) ban the sales of goods or services 4) issue a fine for the violator.

In cases of discrimination, the public notary can order the closure of the shop (for a pre-defined period of time).

The Regional National Public Health and Medical Officer Service[7] can issue a fine against violators of the principle of equal treatment (up to the amount of 50,000 Ft, approx. 200 EUR)

The Health Insurance Inspectorate can 1) order termination of the discriminatory conduct; 2) order to avoid the continuation of the unlawful conduct in the future; 3) fine the violators of the principle of equal treatment.

Rules on compensation

There are no specific rules set for the calculation of compensation in discrimination cases.

One of the most typical fields for the occurrence of unequal treatment is the field of employment. The Labour Code[8] provides detailed rules on the calculation of compensation.[9] In cases of unlawful termination of employment, the judge is empowered to decide on the scale of compensation within the range of the amount from two to twelve months’ salary of the claimant. Additionally, the employer has to reimburse the claimant’s missed salary and other benefits, or other losses.

The law does not provide upper limits regarding the nominal amount of compensation. If it comes to the calculation of the compensation, there is no “maximum amount of salary” defined.

Assessment

Given the lack of statistical data on the judicial procedures and decisions, it is almost impossible to provide a reliable assessment on the legal sanctions adopted in Hungary.

The sanctions adopted by courts would be, theoretically, satisfactory to address problems of discrimination, especially the compensation of the victims of unequal treatment.

Most of the sanctions adopted by authorties – including the ETA, National Labour Inspectorate, National Office for Education, the National Consumer Protection Authority and the Health Insurance Inspectorate – are considered to be ineffectively soft and far from dissuasive, such as the “warning/order to stop discrimination (non-legal conduct)”, “warning/order to avoid the continuation of the unlawful conduct in the future”; or publishing the decision that establishes the violation of the requirement of equal treatment.

Only fines might be dissuasive (adopted by the ETA, National Office for Education, the National Consumer Protection Authority, the Health Insurance Inspectorate, Regional National Public Health and Medical Officer Service) or the ban on selling goods or services (adopted by the National Consumer Protection Authority or the public notaries).

As for the concept of “serious violation of the requirement of legal employment”, defined by the Labour Code amendment of 2009[10] (reccurence of illegal conduct) it is to be noted that the previous provisions were considered as disproportionate. According to the previous provisions, even a single discriminatory conduct (e.g. a harrassment case of one of the officers) might result, at least theoretically, in serious consequences for the whole company or institution (exclusion from public procurement, exclusion from access to EU or domestic funds).