Harassment, as it is defined in § 3 (3) AGG, is contingent on a violation to the dignity of the affected person and also the existence of a “hostile environment”. In practice, this limits legal protection, as not every case of workplace harassment is accompanied by a “hostile environment”. The prohibition of sexual harassment under § 3 (4) AGG only applies to Labour Law. It is imperative that this scope of application extends to cover every area of the law. This is important because the danger of sexual harassment also exists, for example, in the accessibility to goods and services. If Ms. M. is sexually harassed by another customer at a kiosk, for example, it would not be covered by the AGG.

This danger exists equally in the field of education, where the State (Land) government has legislative power, the legislators should create laws to protect from sexual harassment. Therefore, it is recommended that the word “and” in § 3 (3) AGG gets replaced by “particularly”. This would clarify that a hostile environment is not a necessary condition for harassment to be present, although it can certainly influence its severity.