Taking EU Equality Law to the Next Level: In Search of Coherence

Abstract

EU employment equality law is the product of fifty years of law-making. This gradual evolution has led to fragmentation and differences in the protection afforded to protected grounds, often referred to as a ‘hierarchy of discrimination grounds’. This paper argues that human dignity is one of the underlying values of EU equality law, and therefore, the existence of a ‘hierarchy’ is not deliberate, but rather the accidental product of progressive waves of legislative evolution. It is thus submitted that EU equality law should keep evolving to achieve a coherent approach to address discrimination. This requires a legal framework that is logical, consistent and aligned with international human rights instruments. On this basis, the paper discusses two proposals to improve the coherence of EU employment equality law, namely, explicitly prohibiting gender identity discrimination and embracing reasonable accommodation for religious practices through a broad interpretation of the concept of indirect discrimination.