Court practices regarding disability discrimination, including reasonable accommodation, at EU and Member State level, and in light of the UN CRPD

This report examines jurisprudence interpreting the obligations relating to the prohibition of disability discrimination and the duty of reasonable accommodation that is developing within the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee), and in national courts and quasi-judicial bodies. Since the adoption of the Employment Equality Directive (Directive 2000/78)1 by the EU and the ratification/ conclusion of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) by the EU and the Member States, a substantial body of case law has developed within the CJEU and the courts and quasi-judicial bodies of many Member States. In addition, the CRPD Committee has issued individual communications in response to claims of employment discrimination made by, or on behalf of, a person or group claiming to be victims of a violation of the Convention in some EU Member States. Chapter 1 of this report identifies and analyses how the CJEU is interpreting the disability-related provisions of the Employment Equality Directive in five key areas: (i) the definition of disability; (ii) reasonable accommodation; (iii) indirect disability discrimination; (iv) discrimination by association; and (v) comparators in disability discrimination cases. Chapter 2 considers how courts in the 27 Member States have interpreted and applied national law transposing the Directive. For each of the five key areas, the report considers whether cases of the national courts align with the CJEU's interpretation, provide additional protection, or are in breach of its interpretation. Next, Chapter 3 examines key elements of the individual communications issued by the CRPD Committee and addressed to EU Member States in the field of employment discrimination. It considers the extent to which the CJEU's case law aligns with the interpretation of the Committee, as set out in those individual communications. The report concludes by identifying tensions, or incompatibilities between the courts and institutions responsible for interpreting and applying disability non-discrimination law at the three levels.