Discrimination means treating someone less favourably than others in a comparable situation because of a particular characteristic.

Examples

• A suitable candidate is rejected at a job interview solely because of their age.
• A parent of a young child is denied career progression because they are assumed not to be sufficiently committed.
• A student with special needs is excluded from teaching activities even though reasonable adjustments would enable them to participate.

Harassment is unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct that violates a person's dignity or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment. It may relate to sex, age, nationality, disability or another characteristic.

Examples

• Repeated comments about someone's appearance or body.
• Sexually suggestive jokes or messages that are unwelcome to the recipient.
• Jokes about someone's nationality, age or disability.
• Persistent remarks by a lecturer or manager that make the learning or working environment feel unsafe.

In cases of harassment, what matters is how the recipient perceives the behaviour of the person causing the uncomfortable situation. The recipient does not have to express their objection explicitly, particularly where there is an imbalance of power between the parties.

Bullying generally involves repeated, prolonged and often targeted and intentional behaviour intended to, or resulting in, humiliating, excluding or isolating someone or undermining their position in the working or learning environment.

Bullying does not have to be related to any personal characteristic. It can also arise from power dynamics, other interpersonal relationships or workplace culture.

Examples

• Repeatedly belittling an employee in meetings.
• Withholding necessary information or deliberately excluding someone.
• Public ridicule or spreading rumours.
• Persistent unjustified criticism or excessive monitoring.
  

Not every conflict is bullying. A one-off disagreement, a difference of opinion or constructive feedback does not generally constitute bullying.

Unequal treatment does not always arise from malice. Decisions are often influenced by prejudices and stereotypes that people may not even recognise in themselves.

For example, recruitment, assessment or collaboration may be affected by:

• age-related prejudice (ageism);
• gender stereotypes (sexism);
• underestimating the abilities of people with disabilities (ableism);
• prejudice associated with nationality or cultural background.

Examples

• An experienced applicant is not selected because someone assumes that a person of retirement age is no longer innovative or capable of developing.
• A female employee is not offered management responsibilities because she is assumed to be unwilling or unable to balance work and family life.
• A team takes the suggestions of an employee from another country less seriously because their Estonian is not sufficiently proficient.
• A team automatically assumes that a woman will handle communication and organisation while a man will take care of technical and substantive tasks.
  

Sometimes the problem is not a person's characteristics but the use of a position of power in a way that harms another person's opportunities or sense of safety.

Particular attention is needed in situations where:

• a lecturer teaches or assesses a student with whom they have a close personal relationship;
• a supervisor influences a supervisee's opportunities outside the academic relationship;
• a manager makes decisions concerning an employee with whom they have a personal relationship.

A conflict arises as soon as there are reasonable grounds to question whether a decision about someone is impartial. What matters is not only actual bias but also how the situation appears to others involved. If a person in a position of power can influence the study, employment or career opportunities of someone close to them, this may create an impression of unfair favouritism and undermine trust in decision-making processes and the university.

Examples

• A professor supervises a doctoral student with whom they are romantically involved while also taking part in decisions about the student's scholarship or progress review.
• A head of department sits on a recruitment panel for a position to which a close family member or partner has applied.
• A lecturer teaches and assesses a student with whom they have, or recently had, a close personal relationship.
  

Equal treatment does not necessarily mean treating everyone identically. Instead, it may mean taking different needs into account so that everyone has equal opportunities to study and work. This may include adapting learning materials, ensuring access to premises, providing assistive technology or introducing flexible working and study arrangements.

Examples

• A wheelchair user cannot participate in committee work because meetings take place in an inaccessible room.
• A student with a visual impairment receives learning materials only in a format that is incompatible with their assistive technology.
• An employee on parental leave is excluded from work-related information (for example, removed from the unit's mailing list or another communication group), despite having expressed a wish to remain in contact with the university.
• A department regards adjustments for neurodivergent employees as preferential treatment and criticises an employee for being offered flexible working arrangements.

We recommend getting in touch as soon as you feel that something is wrong or needs to be discussed. Most difficult situations do not begin with a clear-cut incident, but with a feeling of discomfort, recurring tensions or uncertainty about whether what you have experienced is normal.

You do not need to be certain that a violation has occurred. You can also contact the Equality Officer simply to document your experience or consider possible next steps. This information also helps identify recurring problems and patterns.

At an early stage, solutions can often be found more quickly and with less stress for everyone involved. As time passes, people's roles may change, evidence may be lost and other opportunities to resolve the situation effectively may diminish.

You can also seek advice about events that happened some time ago. Even when it is no longer possible to establish all the circumstances or take measures in an individual case, reporting the matter may still be valuable to the university. Past experiences help identify recurring patterns, shortcomings in working or study arrangements, and areas where guidance needs clarification, practices need changing or prevention needs strengthening. However, in very old cases it may be difficult to reach a definitive conclusion about what happened or take the measures sought, for example if those involved are no longer connected to the university. Given its limited resources, the university therefore focuses primarily on recent or ongoing cases, where it can more effectively ensure a safe and equal learning and working environment.

Under § 25 of the Equal Treatment Act and § 14 of the Gender Equality Act, a claim for compensation for damage caused by discrimination becomes time-barred one year after the date on which the injured person became, or should have become, aware of the damage. This means that the period begins when the person realised, or could reasonably have been expected to realise, that they had suffered damage as a result of discrimination.

The most direct way is to call the Equality Officer on 5378 3982, email [email protected] or book an appointment through Microsoft Bookings.

If you send an enquiry by email, the Equality Officer will acknowledge receipt as soon as possible. The first meeting usually takes place within a week of receiving the enquiry.

Information about someone else's concerns or experiences is also important. Such observations help identify potential risks and recurring patterns. However, a person's circumstances can best be assessed and suitable solutions found when they are willing to make contact themselves or discuss their situation.

If possible, please complete the confidential summary form before the meeting and email it to the Equality Officer. The form helps you organise your thoughts and enables the Equality Officer to prepare more effectively.

The purpose of the form is not simply to gather information. It helps ensure that your experience is accurately documented and that you do not have to recount the same events to those handling the case later. This is particularly important when dealing with emotionally difficult or traumatic situations.

If you cannot complete the form before the meeting, the Equality Officer will prepare a case summary based on your discussion. Before the text is finalised, they will send it to you so that you can review, supplement and approve it.

You do not need to describe your experience perfectly or know in advance what outcome you want. It is enough to describe the situation as you experienced it. The Equality Officer can help you consider what the next steps might be.

At the first meeting, the Equality Officer will seek to understand the situation and its impact and suggest possible solutions. If necessary, they will gather further information or documents and work with you to assess which approach would be most appropriate.

For many enquiries, advice, documenting the situation or considering different options is sufficient. In other cases, informal measures may follow, such as discussions to clarify the situation, adjustments to work or study arrangements, mediation or conciliation. More serious cases may require a formal complaints procedure, in which further information is collected about the circumstances, the parties are heard and an assessment is made as to whether a violation occurred.

The procedure must be fair, impartial and confidential, and the stress it causes those involved must be kept to a minimum. Both parties have the right to be heard. However, this does not mean that a person about whom information has been shared with the Equality Officer has the right to question the person making the report directly. More detailed rules are set out in the equal treatment guidelines.

The time needed to resolve a case therefore depends on its complexity, the number of people involved, the available evidence and whether other specialists or units need to be involved. Some matters can be resolved within days or weeks; more complex cases may take several months. The person who made the enquiry will be kept informed of progress throughout the process.

It is important to know that making an enquiry does not automatically initiate formal proceedings.

The Equality Officer's work is based on confidentiality, impartiality and respect. They will listen without judgement. Their aim is to understand the situation without requiring you to recount what happened repeatedly. To this end, they may ask for your consent at the start of the meeting to make an audio recording. The recording allows the Equality Officer to concentrate fully on listening to your account during the meeting. An accurate case summary will subsequently be prepared from the recording, which you can review, supplement and correct before final approval.

You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time, including during the meeting. Refusing to be recorded will not affect your rights or your access to support in any way.

A summary form is used to document the case. You can complete it yourself or the Equality Officer can prepare it based on the meeting. Its purpose is to ensure that your experience is accurately documented in one go.

All case materials are subject to access restrictions. Access is limited to the Equality Officer and, where necessary, to people who have a legitimate work-related need for the information or whose involvement is essential to resolving the case. Information is always shared with your knowledge and consent.

The Equality Officer collects only information necessary to understand the situation and consider possible next steps. However, complete confidentiality cannot always be guaranteed, particularly where the university has a legal duty to act or where action is needed to prevent a serious threat to someone's safety. Even then, the Equality Officer will explain and discuss possible steps with you as early as possible.

Submitting an enquiry does not automatically initiate formal proceedings. For most people, the first step is simply to discuss the situation, seek advice or document their experience.

After receiving your email, the Equality Officer will contact you and agree on a suitable way to discuss and clarify the situation. If you book a consultation, you will discuss your experience, expectations and needs. You do not need to know what outcome you want or whether the situation definitely constitutes discrimination, harassment or bullying. It is enough to describe what happened as you experienced it and consider a possible resolution.

The Equality Officer will then explore the available options with you. Sometimes advice or documenting the case is enough. In other situations, the problem can be resolved through changes to working or study arrangements, discussions to clarify the situation or other supportive measures. More serious cases may require a formal complaints procedure. If someone is in immediate danger or the university has a legal duty to intervene, quicker or more extensive action may be needed. In such cases, we will try to inform you as early as possible about what is happening and explain why certain steps are necessary.

In some cases, conciliation or other discussions based on restorative justice principles may also be considered. Their purpose is to help those involved better understand what happened, discuss its impact and, where possible, find a way to work together safely in future. Conciliation is not suitable for every case and is used only when the circumstances allow it, all parties participate voluntarily and no one's sense of safety or wellbeing is put at risk.

It is important to know that you will not be pressured into choosing any particular solution. The Equality Officer's role is to help you understand your options, assess risks and make informed decisions. Wherever possible, the next steps will be agreed with you.

Throughout the process, you will be kept informed about how your enquiry is being handled and what action is planned. If resolving the situation requires involving other people or units, this will be discussed with you beforehand.

The university has various specialists and support services, and not every issue falls within the Equality Officer's remit.

If your concern relates to research ethics, authorship, plagiarism, data use, publishing, ethical issues in research supervision or a suspected breach of good research practice, the best first point of contact is research integrity counsellor.

If you need psychological support, crisis counselling, help with mental health concerns or would like to learn self-help techniques, you should contact the Counselling Centre or the psychological counsellor for employees.

If your question mainly concerns the organisation of studies, the application of study regulations, study arrangements or administrative decisions, the best first contact may be an academic affairs specialist or the Office of Academic Affairs. Doctoral students and junior research fellows can also contact their faculty's doctoral centre.

If you are unsure whom to contact, you can ask the Equality Officer, who will help you find the most suitable person or service.