21% of employees have personally encountered discriminatory treatment in the workplace during the last three years, according to a study conducted by ombudsman Juris Jansons and Norstat entitled “Prevalence of Discrimination in the Employment Environment in Latvia. Comparative study, 2011 and 2020 ”.
As Ruta Siliņa, a representative of the Ombudsman’s Office, told LETA, discriminatory treatment most often or in 46% of cases comes from the line manager, other colleagues and the company’s management, less often – from clients or cooperation partners.
The study found that younger employees were more likely than others to be treated unfairly or abusively by other colleagues and clients. At the same time, it is also observed that the longer the length of service in the company, the less often unfair treatment is felt.
Siliņa informed that a significant part of Latvian employees or 44% in the last five years have noticed a job advertisement with biased requirements regarding the age and gender of the candidates. When describing age limits, it was commonly mentioned that employers invite young candidates, such as those under 40 or 50 years of age.
With regard to gender restrictions, cases of discrimination between the sexes were mentioned. For example, women are often sought in trade or services, while in other cases men are preferred.
Siliņa noted that in addition to gender and age restrictions, the study participants also mentioned other biased requirements, such as health, appearance, as well as skills and qualifications.
However, the majority of respondents could not indicate the source of the discriminatory advertisement. It was most often noted that discriminatory advertisements were seen on the Internet, for example, on the advertisement portal “ss.lv”.
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