Equality, Diversity and Respect

Discrimination defines a situation where a person is disadvantaged in some way compared to others in a similar situation based on certain criteria closely related to their personal identity, which have been commonly used to justify exclusion, marginalization and exploitation. Discrimination degrades the persons affected and offends their personal dignity. It means people are not treated as individuals, but simply labelled as members of certain groups, with specific stereotypical characteristics attributed to them. Discrimination can occur intentionally or unintentionally. It can also be caused by measures and policies which do not explicitly refer to a protected criteria and seem apparently neutral but actually have a negative impact which disproportionately affects members of a certain group (such as women, people with disabilities, people of colour).

• Verbal or written statements or actions of a degrading nature: such as telling racist jokes, ridiculing gay or lesbian people, sexist portrayal of persons in presentations or video material, etc.
• Unequal treatment: such as discrimination because of pregnancy or physical restrictions (such as non-renewal of a contract due to a pregnancy) ; assignment of tasks or assessment based on stereotypes (such as “Women are better listeners”, “Men have better technical skills”), etc.
• Unfair working conditions: such as unjustified refusal to grant equal wages or promotions, unjustified restrictions on the level of employment or on working-time arrangements, etc.

The principle of non-discrimination on the grounds of sex and gender in the Federal Constitution of Switzerland goes along with a direct mandate to both legislative and executive authorities – including public institutions such as EPFL – to take action to achieve real equality between women and men. This mandate, together with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW, art. 4 § 1) and the Gender Equality Act of 1995, provides the legal basis for targeted temporary measures aimed at accelerating effective equality by compensating for the disadvantages of women compared to men in most areas of social, economic and political life.

The Gender Equality Act, a federal law that targets the field of public and private employment relationships, protects both women and men from discriminatory acts: neither sex, marital status, their family situation nor pregnancy shall give rise to direct or indirect inequality of treatment. The prohibition of discrimination applies in particular to recruitment, assignment of tasks, adjustment of working conditions, remuneration, training and further education, promotion and termination of employment relationships. As mentioned above, the Gender Equality Act specifies that appropriate measures designed to achieve effective equality do not constitute discrimination.

Measures are deemed appropriate if they are effective with regard to the pursued aim, if there isn’t another type of action with equal impact that would have less restriction on others (e.g., men), and if the restriction effected on the rights of others (e.g., men) is limited. Positive measures can take different forms, such as mentoring programs, outreach measures, targeted recruiting, quotas fixing a certain percentage of the underrepresented gender to be included on shortlists for academic positions, preferential hiring of the underrepresented gender subject to the condition of equivalent qualification to that of the candidates belonging to the overrepresented gender.

The Gender Equality Act also specifies the prohibition of sexual harassment. It requires the authorities, including the ETH Domain, to take appropriate measures to prevent and address cases of sexual harassment. It also requires authorities, including the ETH Domain, to set up conciliation boards that can be called upon to advise the parties. EPFL has a dedicated page with advice and resources on this subject. You can also check Chapters 3 (Harassment) and 4 (Help & Support) of the Compliance Guide for additional information.

The ban on discrimination on the ground of the sexual orientation or gender identity is enshrined in the Swiss Federal Constitution via the ban on discrimination based on gender and way of life. Beyond the general protection against discrimination, and the duty for employers to protect the integrity of their employees, formal legal protection for LGBTIQ people in Switzerland is still scarce. With the extension of the scope of the Criminal Code (Art.261bis), persons who suffer discrimination because of their homosexuality, heterosexuality, bisexuality or non-binary identity will be protected against certain forms of publicly expressed acts such as hate speech and service denial that undermine their human dignity, based on their sexual orientation and/or their gender identity.

These principles are of central value to EPFL. As a learning and evolving institution, EPFL strives to continually improve its inclusiveness of people who identify as LGBTIQ. More information is available on a dedicated web page.

This prohibition can refer to a discrimination based on a compound of characteristics, such as nationality, language, skin colour, hair or eye shape, or social background. Discrimination based on ‘origin’ is also often linked to the criterion of religion. No discrimination on the grounds of origin is tolerated at EPFL.

However, based on legal requirements, EPFL may have to apply different rules depending on citizenship or place of residence. For example, type and conditions on work permit for EU citizens or for citizens of non-EU countries.

How should one deal with perceived differences? The Federal Act on Foreign nationals and Integration defines the aim of integration as the coexistence on the basis of the values of the Federal Constitution and mutual respect and tolerance.

As for the discrimination on the grounds of origin, this form of discrimination can refer to a discrimination based on a compound of characteristics which were relied upon by racist ideologies to classify people into superior and inferior groups. As the concept of “race” is thoroughly discredited and lacks scientific foundation, it is more appropriate to refer to racist discrimination than to racial discrimination.

The Swiss Criminal Code against racist discrimination (art. 261bis CP) renders punishable acts of explicit or implicit refusal to grant equal rights to human beings on grounds of the colour of their skin or their ethnic or cultural origin, assignation to a certain caste or incitement to hatred or discrimination against a person or a group of persons on the grounds of the colour of their skin or their ethnic or cultural origin, or religion.

As the reports by the Swiss Network of Counselling Centres for Victims of Racism show, the workplace is one of the contexts where racist incidents are experienced. Racist discrimination at the workplace is the second most frequent kind of racist incidents reported, often in the form of unequal treatment, denigration and insults. Awareness is required from all of us. Racist discrimination is incom- patible with values at EPFL and is not tolerated.

Freedom of belief, conscience and opinion is protected by the Swiss Constitution and international treaties that Switzerland has signed such as the ECHR. According to art. 9 of the ECHR, “Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.“

The need to ensure the proper functioning of an institution can nevertheless justify certain limitations of individual freedoms. The duty of loyalty of employees thus includes the requirement of a reservation in the expression of religious, ideological or political convictions. However, these restrictions depend on the specific mission of the institution, as well as on the place the individual occupies within the institution.

From religious freedom flows the requirement of confessional neutrality of the State. Religious neutrality applies not only to primary and secondary schools but also to post-compulsory public education and universities.

Jurisprudence continues to contribute to the shaping of our understanding of religious freedom. Although highly publicised and discussed, case law arising from conflicts around religion remains relatively rare in Switzerland, since most conflicts are resolved through dialogue, the search for pragmatic solutions and concessions by the parties. These principles also apply to EPFL.

The Federal Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against People with Disabilities (Disability Discrimination Act, DDA) and the international Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, signed by Switzerland, have the purpose of preventing, reducing or eliminating discrimination against people with disabilities and to ensure the conditions that facilitate the participation of persons with disabilities in the life of society, in particular by helping them to be independent in establishing social contacts, completing training or further training and exercising a professional activity. This law therefore applies directly to EPFL and obliges it to take appropriate measures to facilitate equal access to studies and jobs for persons with a physical, mental or psychological disability. Under the name EPFL Without Barriers, a cross-cutting program to improve accessibility and inclusion has been launched. A dedicated page lists advice and resources for students.

The age criterion prohibits discrimination on the grounds of both youth and old age. Prohibited is differential treatment based on stereotypical representations of abilities of young or elder persons and the value attributed to them based on this. A differentiation must be made between illicit discrimination based on age and justified protective measures (e.g., provisions on retirement age). Even though only limited jurisprudence exists in Switzerland on the topic of discrimination based on age, there is a growing sensitivity to the issue, resulting in efforts to prevent discrimination and ensure age diversity in hiring. Research funding organisations such as the SNSF and universities increasingly apply academic age (i.e., number of years since PhD) as a criterion as opposed to biological age. EPFL strives to hire an age-diverse population.

EPFL as an employer has the responsibility to acknowledge and safeguard, within the employment relationship, employees’ personal safety, health and integrity. To this end, EPFL takes all the measures that are shown by experience to be necessary, that are feasible and appropriate to the particular circumstances and may equitably be expected of EPFL. Among others, the Security, Prevention and Health unit (DSPS), Human Resources, the Student Affairs, the Person of Trust and the Trust and Support Network have specific mandates in this respect. However, the responsibility to protect the integrity of employees also follows the lines of hierarchy. An online training course created for EPFL professors and supervisory staff is dedicated to this topic.

Employees on their side have a duty of loyalty or fidelity (Art. 20 LPers). They must refrain from any behavior that could harm their employer or employees. This implies, in particular, that irregularities shall be reported internally or to the competent authorities (LEX 4.1.0.1, art. 22a). More generally, the employee must perform his or her duties in such a way that no damage is caused to the employer’s assets (for example EPFL’s reputation). This duty of loyalty or fidelity concerns each employee, whatever their position. During their studies, EPFL students are required to respect regulations governing school life and act in accordance to the EPFL Honour Code (LEX 2.3.1), which includes a general duty to respect the EPFL community as a whole. The scrutiny will be enhanced for executives and manag- ers because of the autonomy conferred on them and the exemplary nature of their duty.