Discrimination by association since its establishment by the Court of Justice

Abstract

From the Coleman judgment (C-303/06) onwards, the Court of Justice took a new look at Directive 2000/78/EC and anti-discrimination protection, which was subsequently joined by the CHEZ (C-83/14) and Hakelbracht (C-404/18) judgments. In these judgments, the Court of Justice extended discrimination protection also to persons who lacked the discriminatory characteristic to the area covered by Directives 2000/43/EC and 2006/54/EC. The development of discrimination by association has been unstoppable since then in Spanish
law, through an enormous jurisprudential development in recent years and the recent Law 15/2022, of 12 July, integral for equal treatment and non-discrimination, which recognises and defines discrimination by association, along with other types of discrimination. However, there are still many challenges of a practical nature pending solution by the Spanish courts, guided by the doctrine of the Court of Justice.