Type: Judgment

Authority: European Authorities: Euopean Union' Court of Justice

Date: 09/09/2015

Subject: The Court affirmed that Directive 2000/78/EC, establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, precludes a provision of national law under which the basic pay of a judge is determined at the time of his appointment solely according to the judge’s age. However, Directive 2000/78 does not preclude a provision of national law establishing the detailed rules governing the reclassification of existing judges within a new remuneration system under which the pay step that they are now to be allocated is determined solely on the basis of the amount received by way of basic pay under the old remuneration system, notwithstanding the fact that that system was founded on discrimination based on the judge’s age, provided the different treatment to which that law gives rise may be justified by the aim of protecting acquired rights. Moreover, Directive 2000/78 does not preclude a provision of national law laying down detailed rules for the career progression of judges already in post before the entry into force of that law within a new remuneration system and securing faster pay progression from a certain pay step onwards for such judges who had reached a certain age at the time of transition to the new system than for such judges who were younger on the transition date, provided the different treatment to which that law gives rise may be justified in the light of that directive. EU law does not require judges who have been discriminated against to be retrospectively granted an amount equal to the difference between the pay actually received and that corresponding to the highest step in their grade. Finally, the Court affirmed that EU law does not preclude a national rulewhich requires national judges to take steps, within relatively narrow time-limits — that is to say, before the end of the financial year then in course — to assert a claim to financial payments that do not arise directly from the law, where that rule does not conflict with the principle of equivalence or the principle of effectiveness

Parties: Unland

Classification: Equality - Art. 21 Non discrimination - Art. 23 Equality between men and women

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