The European legislative framework against discrimination. An overview

Discrimination is a phenomenon encountered in the majority of societies, and it reflects on various groups based by: race, nationality, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, persuasions, belonging to a disfavoured group, age, handicap, non-transmissible chronic disease, HIV infection. Any individual may be exposed to discriminatory acts at a given time for one or the other reasons, in certain situations and contexts. Irrespective of the discrimination type to which an individual or a group is/are subject, it is important to act for combating and diminishing all forms of discrimination because any such form affects under one or the other aspect to a large extent significant groups of individuals. The present paper intends to analyse the European legal framework regarding discrimination, respectively mobbing on the labour market with emphasis on the situation of women. A series of normative acts at European level are presented and detailed which are intended to contribute in counteracting the discrimination and mobbing phenomena, as well as models from some countries of the European Union (Spain, Italy, France, Poland and Slovakia).