The Norwegian Equality Tribunal
By act of law The Norwegian Equality Tribunal was established 1th January 2006.
The tribunal enforces the various Norwegian equality and anti-discrimination acts:
• the Gender Equality Act,
• the Act on Prohibition of Discrimination on the basis of ethnicity, national origin, ancestry, skincolour, language, religious and ethical orientation (the Discrimination Act),
• the Act on Prohibition of Discrimination on the basis of disability (Discrimination and Accessibility Act)
• the anti-discrimination regulations in the Labour Environment Act (these regulations protect against labour market-related discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, age, political views and membership of a trade union),
• the anti-discrimination regulations in the housing legislation
The tribunal receives governmental funding, but carries out its functions in an independent manner, free from governmental instruction.
The tribunal is accessible to the general public and its services are free of charge.
Only the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud has the competence to investigate alleged non-compliance with the law. The Ombud can make a recommendation which can be appealed before the tribunal. A case can only be handled by the Tribunal after the Ombud has made a recommendation.
The rulings of the tribunal are administratively binding. Such rulings, however, may be overruled by a court of law. The Tribunal may order the payment of a daily fine until compliance with such rulings.
When it comes to administrative decisions made by municipal and state institutions, the powers of the tribunal are more limited. In such cases the tribunal can only give recommendations.
Members
The tribunal consists of eight members and four substitute members. When handling the cases the members are divided into two divisions with five members each.
The chair and the deputy chair of the tribunal participate in both divisions. In this way consistency in the practice of the tribunal is ensured.
The members of the tribunal are appointed by the government. Most of the members are of the legal profession. The chair of the tribunal, Aslak Syse, is a professor of law at Oslo University.
Cases
The tribunal has so far (march 2009) handled 81 cases.
Number of cases under the different discrimination grounds by march 2009:
Maternity leave – 19
Equal pay for men and women – 8
Other gender related grounds – 22
Age – 9
Ethnicity – 15
Language – 3
Disability – 2
Non-membership of trade union – 1
For summaries of the cases, see menu on the left. Some cases are also translated into english in full text, see menu.
Contact information:
P.O.Box: 8049 Dep, N-0031 Oslo
Norway
Møllergata 24 (office location)
Telephone: + 47 95 19 68 00/01
E-mail: post@diskrimineringsnemnda.no
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