Consolidated version valid as of 1 July 2017
REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA
LAW ON EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR WOMEN AND MEN
1 December 1998 No VIII-947
(As last amended on 11 May 2017 – No XIII-364)
Vilnius
CHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. Purpose and scope of the Law
1. The purpose of this Law shall be to ensure the implementation of equal rights for women and men enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania and to prohibit any type of discrimination on grounds of sex, in particular by reference to marital or family status.
3. This Law shall seek to ensure the application of the legal acts of the European Union referred to in the Annex to this Law.
Article 2. Definitions
1. Discrimination means any direct or indirect discrimination, sexual harassment, harassment or an instruction to directly or indirectly discriminate against persons on grounds of sex.
2. Equal opportunities for women and men means the implementation of human rights guaranteed in international documents on human and civil rights and in laws of the Republic of Lithuania.
3. Violation of equal rights for women and men means discrimination on grounds of sex. A person’s rejection of or submission to a conduct which violates equal rights for women and men may not be used as a basis for a decision affecting that person.
4. Indirect discrimination means an act or omission, legal provision, assessment criterion or practice that formally are the same for women and men, but their implementation or application may put or puts persons of one sex at a particular disadvantage compared with persons of the other sex, unless such act or omission, legal provision, assessment criterion or practice is objectively justified by a legitimate aim, and the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.
5. Harassment means unwanted conduct related to the sex of a person that occurs with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of the person, and of creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive environment.
6. Sexual harassment means any form of unwanted and insulting verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature with a person, with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of the person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, humiliating or offensive environment.
Article 3. Burden of proof
When examining in courts or other competent authorities the complaints and applications of natural persons as well as the disputes of persons concerning discrimination on grounds of sex, a presumption shall be made that the fact of direct or indirect discrimination has occurred. The respondent shall have to prove that there has been no breach of the principle of equal treatment.
Article 4. Duty of state and municipal institutions and agencies to implement equal rights for women and men
1. State and municipal institutions and agencies must, within their remit:
1) ensure that equal rights for women and men are guaranteed in all the legal acts drafted and adopted by them;
3) in accordance with the procedure laid down by laws, support the programmes of public establishments, associations and charity funds which assist in implementing equal opportunities for women and men;
2. State institutions shall envisage measures aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in strategic planning documents. Municipal institutions shall envisage measures aimed at ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in a municipal strategic development plan and/or a municipal strategic action plan.
Article 5. Duty of educational institutions and higher education and research institutions to implement equal rights for women and men
1. Educational and research institutions must:
1) ensure equal conditions for women and men when admitting to vocational training establishments and higher education institutions, improving qualifications, developing professional skills and providing practical work experience;
2) ensure equal conditions for women and men when awarding scholarships and granting loans for studies;
3) ensure equal conditions for women and men when curricula are selected for them and selected by them;
5) take measures to prevent sexual harassment of pupils, students and employees of educational institutions and higher education and research institutions;
6) take measures to ensure that pupils, students or employees of educational institutions and higher education and research institutions who give evidence or provide clarifications concerning discrimination would be protected from adverse treatment, adverse consequence and any other persecution as a reaction to a complaint or to any other legal proceedings concerning discrimination.
Article 6. Employer’s or his representative’s duty to implement equal rights for women and men in the workplace
In implementing equal rights for women and men in the workplace, the employer or his representative must:
1) apply the same selection criteria and conditions when recruiting or promoting, except for the case specified in point 5 of Article 10 of this Law;
2) provide equal working conditions and access to improvement of qualifications, retraining, acquisition of practical work experience, as well as provide equal advantages;
3) provide equal pay for equal work or for work of equal value, including all the additional remuneration paid in any form by the employer or his representative to workers for the work performed by them;
4) ensure that a person seeking employment or a worker does not suffer harassment and sexual harassment;
5) take measures to ensure that a worker, a worker’s representative, a worker who gives evidence or provides clarifications concerning discrimination would be protected from adverse treatment, adverse consequence and any other persecution as a reaction to a complaint or to any other legal proceedings concerning discrimination.
Article 7. Implementation of equal opportunities for women and men in the area of consumer protection
When implementing equal rights for women and men, a seller or producer of goods or a service provider must:
1) apply equal conditions of payment or guarantees for the same products, goods and services and for products, goods and services of equal value to all consumers regardless of their sex;
2) in providing consumers with information about products, goods and services or advertising them, ensure that it would not express humiliation, contempt or restriction of rights or would not extend privileges on grounds of a person’s sex and would not form public attitudes that one sex is superior to the other;
3) ensure equal conditions as regards the supply of and access to goods and services, without discrimination on grounds of sex, including less favourable treatment of women for reasons of pregnancy and maternity as well as breastfeeding, except in the case specified in point 8 of Article 10 of this Law.
Article 8. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex in organisations and associations
It shall be prohibited to discriminate on grounds of sex in connection with membership of organisations of workers, employers or other organisations/associations whose members carry on a particular profession, involvement in the organisations/associations, including the benefits provided by such organisations/associations.
Article 9. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex in social security schemes
1. There shall be no discrimination on grounds of sex when establishing and applying social security provisions including the schemes that replace or supplement the state social insurance scheme (hereinafter: ‘social security provisions’), in particular as regards:
2. Discrimination shall be prohibited when establishing and applying social security provisions in cases of illness, disability, old-age, including early retirement, accidents at work and occupational diseases, unemployment and the social security provisions that provide for any type of social benefits, including survivor’s and orphan’s pensions, benefits and material allowances.
3. Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of sex shall apply to employed persons, including self-employed persons, to persons whose activity is interrupted by illness, maternity, accident or involuntary unemployment and to persons seeking employment, to retired and disabled workers and to those claiming under them.
Article 10. Actions that violate equal rights for women and men
Any actions or other conduct whereby a person is discriminated against on grounds of sex shall be considered as violation of equal rights for women and men, except for the cases when:
4) requirements for physical training, safety and health at work are applied to women aimed at protecting the women’s health given their physiological characteristics;
5) a certain job is performed necessitating the employment of a person of one sex where, by reason of the nature of the particular occupational activities concerned or of the context in which they are carried out, sex constitutes a genuine and determining occupational requirement, provided that the objective is legitimate and the requirement is proportionate;
6) specific temporary measures set forth by laws are applied with a view to accelerating the anchoring of factual equality between women and men and which must be repealed upon completion of the implementation of equal rights and equal opportunities for women and men;
Article 11. Actions of the employer or his representative that violate equal rights for women and men
The actions of an employer or his representative shall be recognised as violating equal rights for women and men if, on grounds of a person’s sex, he:
1) applies to the person less/more favourable conditions of recruitment, transfer to another post or pay for equal work or for work of equal value;
3) changes working conditions, transfers a worker to another post or terminates the contract of employment concluded therewith;
4) persecutes a worker, a representative of the worker or a worker who gives evidence or provides clarifications in relation to a complaint or to any other legal proceedings concerning discrimination;
Article 12. Actions of educational institutions and higher education and research institutions that violate equal rights for women and men
Actions of educational institutions and higher education and research institutions shall be recognised as violating equal rights for women and men, if, on grounds of a person’s sex:
1) different requirements and conditions are applied when admitting for training or studies, preparing curricula and study programmes, assessing knowledge, improving qualifications, developing professional skills or providing practical work experience;
Article 13. Actions of a seller or producer of goods or a service provider that violate equal rights for women and men
Actions of a seller or producer of goods or a service provider shall be recognised as violating equal rights for women and men if, on grounds of a person’s sex, including the less favourable treatment of women for reasons of pregnancy and maternity as well as breastfeeding:
1) different conditions of payment or guarantees are applied for the same goods, services and products and for goods, services and products of equal value or different choices for goods and services are established;
2) in informing about products, goods and services or advertising them, public attitudes are formed that one sex is superior to the other and consumers are also discriminated against on grounds of sex;
Article 14. Discrimination on grounds of sex in organisations and associations
Any actions that prevent from becoming a member of an organisation of workers and employers, or another organisation/association whose members carry on a particular profession or from involving in such an organisation/association, including the benefits provided by such organisations/associations, on grounds of sex shall be recognised as violating equal rights for women and men.
Article 15. Discrimination on grounds of sex in social security schemes
Any act or omission, legal norm, assessment criterion or practice preventing from setting and applying equal conditions in implementing social security provisions shall be recognised as violating equal rights of women and men if, based on a person’s sex, this includes:
3) setting different conditions, except as provided for in points 8 and 10 of this Article, for retention of entitlement to deferred benefits when a worker leaves social security schemes;
4) laying down different rules as regards the minimum period of participation in social security schemes;
5) laying down different rules, except as provided for in points 8 and 10 of this Article, for the reimbursement of contributions or retention of entitlement to benefits when a worker leaves social security schemes;
7) setting different rights (acquisition of such rights) entitlement to the share of funds accumulated on behalf of the participants during periods of maternity/paternity leave or any other special-purpose leave for family reasons which are granted by law or agreement and are paid by the employer;
8) setting different levels of social security benefit, except in so far as it is necessary to take account of the different life expectancy of women and men as an actuarial calculation factor;
9) setting different levels for contributions of participants, except for contributions for biometric risk coverage, in so far as it is necessary to take account of actuarial calculation factors which differ according to sex;
10) setting different levels for contributions, except in the case of defined-contribution schemes if the aim is to make the amount of the final benefits more nearly equal for both sexes, and in the case of defined-benefit schemes where the contributions are intended to ensure the adequacy of the funds necessary to cover the cost of the benefits defined.
Article 16. Discriminatory advertising
In advertisements offering employment, civil service or learning opportunities, it shall be prohibited to specify the requirements which give priority to one of the sexes, except for the case referred to in point 5 of Article 10 of this Law, and to request information from job seekers about their family status, age (except for the cases specified by this Law), private life or family plans.
Article 17. Rights of a person discriminated against and of the persons representing him
1. A person who considers that he has been subject to the discriminatory actions specified in this Chapter or that he has become the subject of sexual or any other harassment shall have the right to refer to the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter: the ‘Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson’) for objective and unbiased assistance.
Article 18. Reparation
A person who has suffered discrimination, sexual harassment or harassment on grounds of sex shall have the right to claim compensation for the material and non-material damage from the persons guilty thereof in accordance with the procedure laid down by law.
Article 19. Supervision of the implementation of the Law
1. The implementation of the Law on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men shall be supervised by the Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson.
2. Complaints relating to violations of equal opportunities for women and men shall be filed with the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman.
3. Complaints relating to violations of equal opportunities for women and men shall be examined and decisions thereon shall be taken in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men.
I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC VALDAS ADAMKUS
Annex to
the Republic of Lithuania
Law on Equal
Opportunities for Women and Men
Legal Acts of the European Union Implemented by this Law
1. Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services (OJ 2004 L 373, p. 37).
2. Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation (recast) (OJ 2006 L 204, p. 23).
3. Directive 2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 July 2010 on the application of the principle of equal treatment between men and women engaged in an activity in a self-employed capacity and repealing Council Directive 86/613/EEC (OJ 2010 L 180, p. 23).