Platform for equality and non-discrimination law

Globalization and internationalization create huge challenges. Workplaces are becoming more mobile, workforces and customers are becoming more diverse.

These developments provide opportunities, but they also pose risks. Older employees and those with a disability or a chronic illness are being pushed out of the labor market. Prejudices against strangers lead to their exclusion from the working world and/or from the social mainstream. Frequently, whether people are given the opportunity to improve their situation is not determined by their performance at work nor by their personality but by the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, and their social or ethnic-cultural background. In particular gender is still a central factor affecting wealth, income, political status, and social prestige. Despite the fact that women are often as qualified (or even better qualified) than their male colleagues, they are massively underrepresented in politics and senior management.

Non-discrimination and equal opportunity laws are an important instrument in the fight against discrimination and exclusion.

The debate over anti-discrimination law is an important field of activity at the Institute of Business Law of the ZHAW School of Management and Law. The institute takes a particular interest in the highly sophisticated non-discrimination law of EC. The closer the cooperation between the European Union and Switzerland, the more important this law becomes for Switzerland. The legal implications of this branch of law is complemented by the sociological and economic aspects of diversity management. Through various projects and publications, the institute’s equal opportunity research team has developed a high degree of competence in the area of equal opportunity and non-discrimination. The expertise thus gained has been successfully put into practice in a number of external consulting assignments.

Kontakt:
Prof. (FH) Dr. iur. Kurt Pärli
0041 58 934 70 18
kurt.paerli(at)zhaw.ch