Equal rights for men and women

The principle of (1) …………..(“All persons shall be equal before the (2) ………….”) laid down in the (3) …………. Law establishes for each individual person the (4) ……….. to equal (5) ………. in comparison to others against the State. The principle of equality is an extensive (6) …………… rule to treat equal (7) ………… or persons equally and unequal matters or persons unequally according to their specific nature and to apply the laws equally without distinction of person. However, this principle leaves the legislator a wide margin of discretion. The principle of equality is infringed only if there is no sensible reason that can be derived from the nature of the matter or is otherwise obvious for making the distinction, i.e. if the arrangement made is arbitrary.

The principle of equal rights for men and women (“Men and women shall have (8) ………… rights”) laid down in the Basic law and the (9) ………… of discriminatory or preferential treatment (“No-one may be prejucised or favoured because of his or her sex …”) (10) ………….. in the Basic Law (11) …………. any (12) ……… distinction between men and women. Thus, these stipulations far exceed the general principle of equality contained in the Basic Law and the principle of equal treatment in (13) …………. law. The employer’s liberty to make his own distinctions for factual reasons is excluded in so far as he intends to use the sex as (14) ……….. for making such distinctions. This means that on principle the biological and other differences of the sexes are to be disregarded unless in the very few cases where different (15) ………. require that these be taken into account.

Ex. 16. Read the following text. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words from the box.

status practice to grant meets treatment equal payments advantages grounds provides purpose benefits confirmation generalising employees

The employer’s obligation

The employer’s obligation, on the (1) ……….. of the principal of equal (2) ……… of his employees, to pay pension (3) ……….., has the same legal (4) ……….. as company practice. If the employer (5) …….. pensions to his employees on the basis of individual (6) ………… he isn’t allowed to exclude individual (7) ………… without pertinent reasons. This also applies if the legal basis for the pension (8) ………….. doesn’t result from the employer’s express confirmation but merely from company (9) …………. In this case, protection of confidence and the principle of (10) ………… treatment overlap (11) ………….. the right to a pension to all employees of the company. It is true that freedom of contract allows the employer to give (12) ……….. to individual employees without this leading to a right to equal treatment for other employees. But this situation is different if the employer grants the pension benefits according to a recognisable and (13) ………… principle, i.e. if he specifies certain conditions or a certain (14) ………... Then he must abide by those and grant the benefits to everyone who (15) ………….. the criteria he has established. It is of no importance whether the favoured group is smaller than the disadvantaged group.

Writing 2. ADVISING ON ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES IN AN EMAIL

A lawyer has received a request from a client who employs a large number of people and has to deal with employment rights disputes on a regular basis. The client has asked for general information about the arbitration process described in Reading 4 in a short, easy-­to-understand memo. He wants to know how it compares with employment tribunals, and what the advantages and disadvantages are of arbitration from the point of view of an employer.

Ex. 17. Read this email, written in response to the above request. Some of the information it contains is incorrect. Find three factual mistakes and correct them.

Dear Mr. Mason In your email of 9 April, you asked for information concerning the new arbitration procedure. You specifically requested an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of arbitration from the point of view of an employer. The followings summary presents a selection of key features of both the new arbitration scheme and the existing employment tribunal process. Speed: Unlike hearings held before an employment tribunal, the new procedure can be completed faster, usually in one week. This is clearly advantageous for an employer, as it would save a great deal of time and money. Confidentiality: In contrast to the public hearings held by employment tribunals, the new arbitration process is conducted in a private setting, such as a hotel, and is completely confidential. This prevents an employer from getting the unwanted bad publicity that often accompanies public proceedings. A further advantage of confidentiality from the point of view of an employer is the fact that high out-of-court settlements for employees (which are typically reached in order to avoid the embarrassment of public proceedings) are thus much less likely. Appeals: Both the decisions of an employment tribunal and those reached in arbitration can be appealed. Naturally, this can be regarded as a significant advantage for an employer. On balance, I would say that the new arbitration scheme is attractive from the point of view of an employer, and I recommend that you consider making use of this new process to deal with all kinds of employment disputes. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like further information. I have attached an article about this topic to this email, which may be of interest to you. Yours sincerely Elisabeth Stephens

Ex. 18. When comparing complex ideas in a Clear and simple way, it is advisable to, decide on an overall organising principle. Generally speaking, two approaches to organising ideas are available to the writer:

A Listing and explaining the advantages and disadvantages of one system and then the other;

B Choosing key points - - such as confidentiality - and discussing each system in respect of these criteria.

1. Which method of organising a comparison is used in the email you have just read?

2. Which sentence in the email announces the organising principle to the reader at the beginning of the text?

3. Underline the phrases in the email which are used to compare and contrast.

4. Which phrases are used to point out advantages?

Ex. 19. Rewrite the email using method A to organise the information.

Correct the factual mistakes and make use of some of the following phrases for comparing and indicating advantages/disadvantages.

X has a number of advantages, such as ...

However, it also has some disadvantages/drawbacks ...

X differs from / is different from Y with regard to / in respect of ...

The first system / The former has the advantage/disadvantage of being .. , while the second system / the latter has the benefit/drawback of being ....

Ex. 20. Read the following article and retell it in English, give your point of view on the suggested problem.