By offering a discount to young people up to a certain age, the National Theater of Drama is discriminating against its patrons, the Equal Opportunities Ombudsman has found.
Only persons under 25 years of age can use the currently valid "young person" discount for tickets at the theater. The theater also offers discounts for people with disabilities, seniors, etc.
Having noticed gaps in the conditions for applying discounts to different groups of persons, one client of the theater turned to the Service, asking whether all discounts are compatible with the principles of equal opportunities. An investigation was launched.
Representatives of the theater explained in a letter that this discount is applied in order to expand the audience of young people, regardless of their education and status.
"The 25-year-old limit was chosen precisely because older young adults are already established in the labor market, they are much more economically capable, so they do not need an incentive for discounts," the representatives of the National Drama Theater are convinced.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Equal Opportunities Controller, while conducting an investigation, emphasized that the country's legal acts, which provide for certain benefits or support for young people, do not provide for such an age limit.
For example, the Youth Policy Framework Law defines a young person as a person aged 14-29, the Employment Law mentions 29 years, and the Civil Code - 24 years.
"In general, providing preferences on the basis of age is not considered discrimination. But in this case, the theater did not provide objective data, such as statistics, which would justify the necessity of setting this particular age limit. Is it really true that, let's say, a 26-year-old person is necessarily more economically capable, compared to a year younger?" said Karolis Čepas, a lawyer at the Office of the Equal Opportunities Controller.
According to him, such arguments of theater representatives and at the same time different treatment of individuals, applying this discount, cannot be considered reasonable.
The service stated that the limit applied by the theater to a young person up to 25 years old contradicts the provision of the Law on Equal Opportunities, which obliges to create equal conditions for obtaining the same products, goods and services, regardless of age, gender and other signs of personal identity.
In her complaint to the Office of the Equal Opportunities Controller, the applicant also drew attention to the system of discounts for persons with disabilities, which was applied only to people with mobility disabilities, but the theater promptly changed the procedure and the investigation was terminated due to this part.
