Legal research on gender discrimination in the Swiss workplace has become more accessible. To mark the 30th anniversary of the Swiss Gender Equality Act (GEA), the Swiss Conference of Gender Equality Delegates has launched “equality law”, a new nationwide knowledge platform bringing together more than 1,400 documented cases concerning gender-based discrimination at work.

The new platform consolidates three previously separate regional databases covering German-speaking Switzerland, French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino. Available in German, French and Italian, it provides centralised access to cases from across Switzerland as well as procedural information, publications, practical resources and information on further training. The database is intended primarily for legal professionals and is continuously supplemented with new decisions.

Of particular interest from an employment-law perspective is the inclusion not only of court decisions but also of cases dealt with by conciliation authorities. According to an article examining the platform, almost 80% of known cases in German-speaking Switzerland did not ultimately reach the courts. The database may therefore provide insight into the practical application of the Gender Equality Act beyond published judicial decisions, including disputes that were settled or otherwise concluded during or following conciliation proceedings.

The cases cover a broad range of issues under the Gender Equality Act, including pay discrimination, discriminatory dismissal, pregnancy and maternity, recruitment and promotion, working conditions and sexual harassment. The portal allows searches to be filtered by canton and subject matter, facilitating comparisons between cases from different parts of Switzerland.

For practitioners, the platform constitutes an additional source for researching the application of Swiss gender equality law. Its particular value lies in bringing together previously dispersed material and providing access to cases that may not have resulted in a published court judgment.