Legal regulatory anti-discrimination in job advertising: national and foreign experience

Abstract

Despite the fact that in national legislation there is a direct, general ban on the use in advertising of statements and/or images that are discriminatory, as well as directly making claims of a discriminatory nature on the basis of race, skin color, gender, age, state of health, sexual orientation, etc. in advertisements about available vacancies, the latter (discriminatory job advertisements) will continue to be an "integral attribute" of the employment process. It is worth noting that discrimination against employees/candidates in job advertisements is widespread not only in Ukraine. Every country to a certain degree or another faces this type of discrimination, and as a result, the requirements are set at the legislative level for job advertisements, namely: their content, place of publication; cases are prescribed in detail, when advantages are still allowed for one or another reason; liability of employers for violations of legislation.
 The article provides a concise retrospective analysis of national legislative requirements regarding the prohibition of discrimination in the advertising of employment services; the provisions of the regulatory acts establishing the procedure for prosecuting advertisers for violations of anti-discrimination norms were analyzed. It was concluded that, in general, the changes made to the current legislation in the field of advertisers' responsibility deserve a positive assessment, but the question of the effectiveness of fines in the real fight against discrimination in practice remains open.
 A study of the existing legal requirements for job advertisements and liability for their violation in such countries as the USA, Australia, France, Germany, Great Britain was carried out. The comparative legal analysis of national and foreign legislation made it possible to conclude that: 1) the list of signs for which discrimination in job advertisements is prohibited is almost similar; 2) foreign legislation, generally, defines in sufficient detail the possibility of deviating from anti-discrimination requirements, in contrast to national legislation; 3) in foreign practice, there are also requirements regarding the place of publication, placement of advertisements, failure to comply with which may indicate hidden or indirect discrimination, but in Ukraine, as of today, there are no such requirements; 4) responsibility, as in Ukraine, in most cases comes in the form of fines, although warnings are also possible.