Means of discrimination or HOW DOES IT HAPPEN?

• Discrimination by active involvement

If a state authority or private or juristic body takes measures to penalize a person because of age, it is considered discrimination. If an employer refuses to give a job to a candidate simply because the applicant is over 50 years old even though he is vital, active and fulfills the same criteria for future position as a younger candidate, then the employer is committing a discriminatory act. If policemen beat a young man who coincidentally walks by a football stadium during riots simply because he is the same age as rioters, and vice versa, while overlooking a muscular middle-age man who is actively involved in riots at the stadium, it is an example of active discrimination by the police.

• Discrimination by inactivity / passive involvement

State and other bodies can be involved in discrimination due to passivity. If for example, a state body does not intervene when necessary to protect the rights and freedoms of specific people because these people are young or old, their inactivity is discriminatory. For instance, when organizations overseeing human rights protection are alerted to the undignified treatment of elderly people in senior nursing homes as well as the violation of basic human rights (rights of privacy and post discretion, prohibition of inhumane treatment, right of access to information, right of personal freedom, etc.) often happens with silent consent expressed by family members. If competent state institutions do not take these cases into consideration and they do not undertake proper action leading toward their clarification and resolution, there is reason to talk of discrimination of the elderly, as a state fails to protect their human rights and dignity.

• Multiple discrimination

Discrimination based on age often goes hand in hand with discrimination for other reasons mentioned on this webpage. One of the “multiple” groups discriminated against regarding access to employment is women over 45 years. In many Slovak regions it is exactly this group of people that has difficulty finding jobs. The reason for this on one hand, is their approaching retirement age. On the other hand, it is a fact that women at this stage of life often do not have an opportunity to earn proper qualification having spent long periods of time on maternity or parental leave. If this kind of woman over 45 is also from the Roma ethnic group and/or homosexual orientation, matters would be significantly worse for her as the discrimination she encounters when seeking employment multiplies due to the racial prejudice and homophobia of her potential employers.