# C_2007269EN.01001202.xml

| 10.11.2007 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 269/12 |
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10.11.2007

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 269/12

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Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 20 September 2007 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Tampereen käräjäoikeus — Finland) — Sari Kiiski v Tampereen kaupunki

(Case C-116/06) (1)

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(Equal treatment for men and women - Protection of pregnant employees - Article 2 of Directive 76/207/EEC - Right to maternity leave - Articles 8 and 11 of Directive 92/85/EEC - Effect on the right to obtain an alteration of the duration of ‘child-care leave’)

(2007/C 269/24)

Language of the case: Finnish

Referring court

Tampereen käräjäoikeus

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Sari Kiiski

Applicant:

Defendant: Tampereen kaupunki

Defendant:

Re:

Interpretation of Article 2 of Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions (OJ 1976 L 39, p. 40), as amended by Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002 (OJ 2002 L 269, p. 15), and of Articles 8 and 11 of Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (OJ 1992 L 348, p. 1) — Refusal of an employer to shorten the duration of child-care leave — Application made before the start of the leave on the ground of a new pregnancy of the person concerned — National legislation requiring unforeseeable and justified grounds as a condition for altering the duration of child-care leave, the practice adopted under the collective agreement excluding pregnancy from such grounds.

Operative part of the judgment

Article 2 of Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions, as amended by Directive 2002/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 September 2002, which prohibits all direct and indirect discrimination on grounds of sex as regards working conditions, and Articles 8 and 11 of Council Directive 92/85/EEC of 19 October 1992 on the introduction of measures to encourage improvements in the safety and health at work of pregnant workers and workers who have recently given birth or are breastfeeding (10th individual Directive within the meaning of Article 16(1) of Directive 89/391/EEC), which govern maternity leave, preclude provisions of national law concerning child-care leave which, in so far as they fail to take into account changes affecting the worker concerned as a result of pregnancy during the period of at least 14 weeks preceding and after childbirth, do not allow the person concerned to obtain at her request an alteration of the period of her child-care leave at the time when she claims her rights to maternity leave and thus deprive her of the rights attaching to that maternity leave.

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(1)  OJ C 116, 20.5.2006.

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