Street-Level Inequalities: Indirect Discrimination in Lithuanian Municipal Public Services

As demonstrated by scholarly research, specific groups of citizens or residents (such as persons with disabilities, migrants, LGBTQ+ individuals, ethnic minorities, and others) encounter discrimination or situations equivalent to discrimination when seeking access to, or already receiving, public services (Andersen & Guul, 2019; Grohs et al., 2016; Jilke et al., 2018; Oberfield & Incantalupo, 2021). According to street-level bureaucracy theory, street-level bureaucrats (e.g. teachers, healthcare professionals, social service providers, and others) tend to identify with their clients and strive to deliver services as effectively as possible (or to represent their interests), despite constraints arising from limited resources, ineffective public policy design, job complexity, excessive workloads, and similar challenges. Most scholars examine which factors shape discriminatory behaviour among street-level bureaucrats when assessing vulnerable client groups compared to majority groups (Dubois, 2016; Raaphorst et al., 2025; Raaphorst & Groeneveld, 2019). In doing so, researchers aim to identify causal mechanisms, such as the negative effects of working conditions, prejudices, stereotypes, emotions, established behavioural patterns, and everyday coping strategies. Discrimination manifests itself through various mechanisms and influences service provision processes. For example, it is often observed that certain citizen groups are discriminated against by limiting their access to services or by categorising them as “problematic clients,” resulting in inadequate service provision—a phenomenon commonly referred to as “creaming” (Bell & Jilke, 2024; Döring & Jilke, 2023). However, discrimination is not the sole factor determining bureaucratic behaviour, and causality in this context is complex and multifaceted. The aim of this study is to identify gaps related to the indirect discrimination of the most vulnerable groups resulting from racism, xenophobia, and hate in the field of municipal public services. The research focuses on initial interactions between citizen-clients and street-level bureaucrats, particularly in the context of general client service delivery within municipal administrations and their subordinate social protection, education, and healthcare institutions. Based on this aim, the following objectives were formulated: 1. To identify potential manifestations of indirect discrimination and related risk areas; 2. To assess interactions between the most vulnerable groups and street-level bureaucrats by considering the experiences, interests, expectations, and administrative literacy of discriminated groups; 3. To identify and analyse measures related to ensuring equal opportunities for the most discriminated groups. For this study, two ethnically distinct groups characterised by a very high risk of discrimination were selected: Lithuanian Roma and economic migrants from Kazakhstan (representing the case of Central Asian migrants). Their selection allows not only for the identification of contrasting mechanisms of public service accessibility and discrimination within “frontline” service delivery channels, but also for a broader discussion on whether equal opportunities policies should be more explicitly focused on the most vulnerable groups.