Senate rejects Equal Opportunities in Recruitment and Selection Act

Last March the Senate rejected the Equal Opportunities in Recruitment and Selection Act. This legislative proposal, adopted by the House of Representatives on 14 March 2023, contained an obligation for employers and intermediaries to establish a working method that includes guarantees to combat labour market discrimination in recruitment and selection and to promote equal opportunities. Employers with more than 25 employees would be obliged to record their working methods in writing, while employers with fewer than 25 employees would in principle only have to explain their working methods verbally. The proposal also contained a reporting obligation for employment agencies and intermediaries of discriminatory requests from clients. Despite the commitments made by the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment during the discussion of the Act in the Senate, not to enforce the Act until two years after its entry into force  and to provide in an amendment act that the method will only be mandatory for employers with at least 50 employees, a majority in the Senate voted against the Act.