EU nations get warning over workplace rights

(BRUSSELS) - Fourteen European Union nations were issued warnings Thursday for failing to properly implement EU rules preventing discrimination in the workplace.

Eleven countries -- the Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden -- were given two months to respond to the European Commission or face possible court action.

A lesser warning was also issued to Germany, Latvia and Lithuania.

The problem concerns EU rules dating from 2000 which prohibit discrimination in employment on the grounds of religion and belief, age, disability and sexual orientation.

The main shortfalls for the 11 included national legislation that is too narrow, definitions of discrimination and harassment which differ from the EU's, and failure to oblige employers to fully provide for disabled workers.

Some also failed to properly help victims of workplace discrimination.

The commission, the EU's executive body, warned France that its definitions of workplace discrimination and harassment were wrong.

Germany was told that its national legislation does not cover redundancies and that it was not doing enough to ensure that employers provide adequate protection for disabled people.

Latvia and Lithuania were warned to better adapt their discrimination laws.