A self-employed man brought an action before the Polish District Court seeking compensation for damages resulting from a company's refusal to renew a contract for a specific job because of his sexual orientation.

In this case, after he and his partner had published a music video promoting tolerance towards same-sex couples, no new contract was concluded with the self-employed worker.

The Polish court referred the case to the European Court of Justice with a request for a preliminary ruling.

The first point of the ruling is that the conditions for access to any occupational activity, whatever the nature and characteristics of such activity, are covered by the European Directive, including the conclusion of a contract with a self-employed person.

On the merits, then, the Court concluded that the freedom of choice of contractor, guaranteed by the Polish anti-discrimination law, would render the European directive ineffective if it allowed refusal to enter into a contract with a person because of his or her sexual orientation.

The European Court ruled that national legislation – in this case, the Polish one - may in no way detract from the protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation as guaranteed by the European Directive (2000/78/EC).

This decision confirms that employers have to promote equality and inclusion and avoid any unequal treatment on one of the protected grounds (such as religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation).

Moreover, they have to bear in mind that this principle has a wide scope and applies not only to employees but also in relation to the self-employed.