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Cases of discrimination in other areas
At the meeting, the salon owner said that she didn’t agree with the price adjustment and stated: “I suspected
that I was going to have problems like this. Working with ‘this population group’ is complicated, more compli-
cated than with any other minority or religion. I took it for granted when I signed and agreed to do the training
that I would have problems like these.”
The Department is waiting for the course to end before it requests a meeting with the salon owner to inform her
that her attitude towards Roma is wrong.
23.
Lugo.
Dignity.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma man told the staff at the Lugo branch of the FSG that he had
been discriminated against and insulted by his sister’s neighbour simply because he is Roma. As a result he filed
a complaint against her.
He had gone with his younger daughter to visit his sister and when he was going into her flat a neighbour stuck
her head out of her door and said: “Gypsy shit. Go and sift through the garbage. That’s all you’re good for.”
The man filed a complaint at the local police station because he considered those comments against him and his
daughter to be totally uncalled for. A hearing was held and the young man won, the neighbour ordered to pay a
fine for slander. The man told us that he is happy with the outcome of the hearing.
This is a positive example showing that formal complaints are useful because judgements are handed down
against hate speech and acts of discrimination.
24.
Madrid.
Others.
Indirect discrimination.
The FSG’s Madrid office handled a case about the ethical code of the
insurance group called Grupo Catalana Occidente S.A. and its group of affiliated undertakings involving a case of
indirect discrimination against ethnic minorities in general.
The introduction to the company’s ethical code refers to the company’s values:
5.2. Impartiality
The Grupo Catalana Occidente shall treat the people it relates with professionally with respect and shall
avoid all types of discrimination on the basis of birth, sex, religion, opinion or any other personal or social
condition or circumstance.”
“Discrimination on the basis or racial or ethnic origin was missing from that list.
The Department tried to contact the company’s HR department but was unsuccessful. Naturally it is very
difficult to prove that exclusion on the basis of ethnic origin is discriminatory. This case was brought to
us by a young Roma man who submitted his CV to the company which rejected him on the basis of his
ethnic background.
25.
Palma de Mallorca.
Dignity.
Direct discrimination.
A Roma women contacted us to report discrimination by
the town hall of Mallorca which failed to answer her application for a license to stable horses. She believed that
her horses were suited for taking people horseback riding as she had been doing for a number of years.
The woman and her family felt that the town hall had discriminated against them and said that if they are not
given the license they will have a very difficult time earning a living.
We told the family what the Department could do to inform the town hall of Mallorca of their situation
and the fact that they were still waiting for a response to their application. In the end the woman asked
us not to get involved because she had relatives running a similar business and this could have a negative
impact on them.