| Summary: | The right to non-discrimination is a fundamental part of human rights. Sweden has enacted legislation which prohibits employers from discriminating or harassing employees and job seekers. Swedish authorities also receive a substantial amount of complaints concerning ethnic discrimination in the workplace every year and there are volumes of research showing structural injustices related to discrimination. Despite these facts few employers have so far been found guilty of discrimination on ethnic grounds in Swedish courts. This thesis aims to shed lights on and analyse how the Swedish anti-discrimination legislation is utilised in the Swedish Labour Court regarding discrimination and harassment on ethnic grounds. On the basis that very few lawsuits brought on behalf of employees/job seekers have been successful it is hypothesized that there are problems either with the form of the legislation or the assessment of the court. Firstly the shape of statutes, their legislative history and preparatory works are illustrated to create an understanding for the legal pre-conditions, thereafter the judgements of the Labour Court are analysed within the theoretical framework of the thesis – composed of Critical Race Theory and Sociology of Law. The study has shown problems concerning both the legislation and the assessment of the Labour Court. The legislation does not seem to embody the awareness of discriminating structures shown by the works of the preparatory committees. Further the assessments of the Court suggest a lack of understanding of the interaction between different pre-conditions and how these create a disadvantage for people of a minority standing which affects them both in the workplace and in the judgments of the Court.
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