OPINION

The opinion was issued in the proceedings concerning the complaint of A.A., against B.B., due to discrimination on the basis of gender. In the complaint, it was stated that this company published a job advertisement with the following content: “Girl needed to work in a boutique”. In the statement to the complaint, it was stated that this company never discriminated by gender or age, and that it was not their intention to offend anyone. During the proceedings, it was established that B.B. published a job advertisement that reads: “Girl needed to work in a boutique”. Bearing in mind the content of the advertisement, in which B.B., as the employer, offers employment to a girl, it is evident that this company made a difference by gender and age, by offering employment only to a young female person – a girl. Also, although in the advertisement published by B.B. no upper age limit is prescribed, from the content of the advertisement it can be concluded that work in the boutique with this employer is only possible for young people of the female sex – girls, and not for other (older) persons. The Commissioner for the Protection of Equality points out that B.B. has full freedom to independently, in accordance with applicable regulations and on the basis of objective criteria, decide on the selection of persons to be employed or hired, assessing their professional knowledge, competences and abilities. However, when advertising and selecting candidates, conditions for establishing an employment relationship must not be set regarding the personal characteristics of the candidate that are not a real and decisive condition for performing the job, considering the nature and specificness of the job and the conditions in which it is performed. After the proceedings, the opinion was issued that by publishing the job advertisement “Girl needed to work in a boutique” B.B. violated the provisions of Art. 6, 16, 20 and 23 of the Law on Prohibition of Discrimination. B.B. was recommended to remove the discriminatory advertisement, i.e. the discriminatory conditions from the job advertisement and to take care, in the future, not to violate the regulations on the prohibition of discrimination when advertising jobs and establishing an employment relationship.

COMMISSIONER FOR THE PROTECTION OF EQUALITY

Brankica Janković