Torn between arithmetic and substantive equality? perspectives on equality in German Labour Law

German equality law is based on the employer's general contractual obligation to treat employees equally and on a number of more specific prohibitions on discrimination. In practice, an ‘arithmetic’ or Aristotelian conception of equality tends to hold sway, to the exclusion of consideration of the structural causes of discrimination. Recent case law interpreting the non-discrimination principle in the context of part-time and fixed-term contract workers suggests the law may be evolving slowly towards a position which sees the role of the law in terms of outlawing unjustified forms of social exclusion.