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viexample would be if some employees were given arbitrarily longer periods of notice thanothers. The remedy will not be reinstatement but rather financial compensation.Provisions upon Takeover of a BusinessIn the event a business is taken over, the buyer of the business is obligated to also ‘takeover’ the employees of the business. The obligations to all employees become the mandatoryobligations of the buyer. The buyer has no choice as to the employees who should or shouldnot be retained in the business. This protection to employees is given under the law relatingto employment contracts (Arbeitsvertragsrechts-Anpassungsgesetz – AVRAG), which cameinto effect partly on 1st July 1993 and finally on 1st January 1994. Also an asset deal maycome under these rules if for instance a particular business line is sold or closed andoutsourced.vii Foreign EmployeesThe legal requirements governing the termination of employment contracts apply both toAustrians and to foreign nationals equally. There is no distinction made between theemployees in this regard.IV Equal PayThe Equal Treatment Act 2004 requires in the private sector that there be equal pay andconditions for equal work. There are also provisions for employees in the public sector andmany collective agreements provide for such equality.If an employer breaches the terms of equal pay for equal work provided for under a collectiveagreement, the employee’s remedy is to take the matter to the Labour Court to have theappropriate remedy determined. The court has power to require the employer to pay thedifference between the actual salary paid and that salary which the court determines shouldbe paid.VDiscriminationThere is an Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz, mainly for private employmentand areas outside the field of employment) and the Federal Equal Treatment Act (mainly forfederal public service) which both outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sex, marital status,ethnic background, religion or philosophy of life, age or sexual orientation in employment, inparticular with regard to:- entering into employment;- salary;- offering social services to employees;- measures related to educational and vocational training with an employer;- promotion;- other employment conditions;- termination of employment, as well as other areas of the employment world.Discrimination on the grounds of disability is not permissible either.The Acts provide for various remedies which range from damage payments for not havingbeen interviewed for discriminatory reasons, to being entitled to the difference between whatone received as salary, and what one should have received. Penalties can also be imposed onemployers for breaching the Acts.- 57 -