North Rhine‑Westphalia’s cabinet has adopted Germany’s first anti‑discrimination law for a mainland state. The bill, known as the Landesantidiskriminierungsgesetz (LADG), will be presented to the state parliament this week, minister Verena Schäffer (Greens) told the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday.
Only Berlin currently has a similar law.
Schäffer described the new legislation as a milestone for protection against discrimination. She cited the recently released socio‑economic panel of the Federal Commissioner for Anti‑Discrimination, which found that roughly 13 % of Germans-especially those with a migrant background-have already experienced everyday discrimination.
According to the minister, the LADG will close a gap in the existing General Equal Treatment Act (AGG). The AGG offers protection in private‑law disputes, such as conflicts with an employer, landlord, or a fitness studio, but it does not cover discrimination that occurs in interactions with state authorities. The LADG is meant to extend safeguards to those cases.
Schäffer stressed that the law is not intended to single out individual teachers or police officers. Complaints would be directed at the institution itself-such as a school or a police department-rather than at specific employees.
The law has been sharply criticized by the German Civil Servants’ Association (DBB) in NRW and by opposition parties in the state parliament. Opponents warn that it could create a presumption of guilt against public‑sector workers and add unnecessary bureaucracy, pointing out that the number of documented discrimination cases in government agencies is very low.
Another point of contention is the claim that future accusations can be built on mere indications of discrimination and that these would be enough to compel the accused to prove that no discrimination occurred-a reversal of the usual burden of proof. Schäffer denies this. She said that, like the AGG, the new law eases the burden of proof but still requires that indications make discrimination plausible. Simple suspicion or blanket allegations are definitely not sufficient.
