# C_2004300EN.01001101.xml

| 4.12.2004 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 300/11 |
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JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Grand Chamber)

of 12 October 2004

in Case C-313/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof): Nicole Wippel v Peek & Cloppenburg GmbH & Co. KG( 1 )

(Directive 97/81/EC - Directive 76/207/EEC - Social policy - Equal treatment as between part-time and full-time workers - Equal treatment as between male and female workers - Working hours and organisation of working-time)

(2004/C 300/21)

Language of the case: German

In Case C-313/02: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC, from the Oberster Gerichtshof (Austria), made by order of 8 August 2002, received at the Court on 5 September 2002, in the proceedings between Nicole Wippel and Peek & Cloppenburg GmbH & Co. KG, — the Court (Grand Chamber), composed of: V. Skouris, President, P. Jann, C.W.A. Timmermans, A. Rosas, R. Silva de Lapuerta and K. Lenaerts, Presidents of Chambers, J.-P. Puissochet, R. Schintgen, F. Macken (Rapporteur), J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and K. Schiemann, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 12 October 2004, in which it has ruled:

| 1. | A worker with a contract of employment, such as that in the main proceedings, under which hours of work and the organisation of working time are dependent upon the quantity of available work and are determined only on a case-by-case basis by agreement between the parties, comes within the scope 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.
Such workers also come within the scope of the Framework Agreement annexed to Council Directive 97/81/EC of 15 December 1997 concerning the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC where:
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they have a contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreement or practices in force in the Member State; —
they are employees whose normal working hours, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over an employment period which may be up to a year, are less than those of a comparable full-time worker within the meaning of Clause 3(2) of that framework agreement, and —
in regard to part-time workers working on a casual basis, the Member State has not excluded them, wholly or partly, from the benefit of the terms of that agreement. | — | they have a contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreement or practices in force in the Member State; | — | they are employees whose normal working hours, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over an employment period which may be up to a year, are less than those of a comparable full-time worker within the meaning of Clause 3(2) of that framework agreement, and | — | in regard to part-time workers working on a casual basis, the Member State has not excluded them, wholly or partly, from the benefit of the terms of that agreement. |
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| — | they have a contract or employment relationship as defined by the law, collective agreement or practices in force in the Member State; | | | | | | |
| — | they are employees whose normal working hours, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over an employment period which may be up to a year, are less than those of a comparable full-time worker within the meaning of Clause 3(2) of that framework agreement, and | | | | | | |
| — | in regard to part-time workers working on a casual basis, the Member State has not excluded them, wholly or partly, from the benefit of the terms of that agreement. | | | | | | |

| 2. | Clause 4 of the Framework Agreement annexed to Directive 97/81 and Articles 2(1) and 5(1) of Directive 76/207 must be interpreted as meaning that:
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they do not preclude a provision, such as Paragraph 3 of the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Law on working time), which lays down a basic maximum working time of 40 hours per week and eight hours per day, and which thus also regulates maximum working time and the organisation of working time in regard to both full-time and part-time workers; —
in circumstances where all the contracts of employment of the other employees of an undertaking make provision for the length of weekly working time and for the organisation of working time, they do not preclude a contract of part-time employment of workers of the same undertaking, such as that in the main proceedings, under which the length of weekly working time and the organisation of working time are not fixed but are dependent on quantitative needs in terms of work to be performed determined on a case-by-case basis, such workers being entitled to accept or refuse that work. | — | they do not preclude a provision, such as Paragraph 3 of the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Law on working time), which lays down a basic maximum working time of 40 hours per week and eight hours per day, and which thus also regulates maximum working time and the organisation of working time in regard to both full-time and part-time workers; | — | in circumstances where all the contracts of employment of the other employees of an undertaking make provision for the length of weekly working time and for the organisation of working time, they do not preclude a contract of part-time employment of workers of the same undertaking, such as that in the main proceedings, under which the length of weekly working time and the organisation of working time are not fixed but are dependent on quantitative needs in terms of work to be performed determined on a case-by-case basis, such workers being entitled to accept or refuse that work. |
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| — | they do not preclude a provision, such as Paragraph 3 of the Arbeitszeitgesetz (Law on working time), which lays down a basic maximum working time of 40 hours per week and eight hours per day, and which thus also regulates maximum working time and the organisation of working time in regard to both full-time and part-time workers; | | | | |
| — | in circumstances where all the contracts of employment of the other employees of an undertaking make provision for the length of weekly working time and for the organisation of working time, they do not preclude a contract of part-time employment of workers of the same undertaking, such as that in the main proceedings, under which the length of weekly working time and the organisation of working time are not fixed but are dependent on quantitative needs in terms of work to be performed determined on a case-by-case basis, such workers being entitled to accept or refuse that work. | | | | |

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( 1 )  OJ C 289 of 23.11.2002.

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