# C_2011139EN.01000502.xml

| 7.5.2011 | EN | Official Journal of the European Union | C 139/5 |
| -------- | -- | -------------------------------------- | ------- |

---

Judgment of the Court (Third Chamber) of 10 March 2011 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Arbeidshof te Brussel (Belgium)) — Maurits Casteels v British Airways plc

(Case C-379/09)( 1 )

(Freedom of movement for workers - Articles 45 TFEU and 48 TFEU - Social security for migrant workers - Protection of supplementary pension rights - Inaction on the part of the Council - Worker employed successively by the same employer in several Member States)

2011/C 139/08

Language of the case: Dutch

Referring court

Arbeidshof te Brussel

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Maurits Casteels

Defendant: British Airways plc

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Arbeidshof te Brussel — Interpretation of Articles 39 EC and 42 EC and of Council Directive 98/49/EC of 29 June 1998 on safeguarding the supplementary pension rights of employed and self-employed persons moving within the Community (OJ 1998 L 209, p. 46) — Absence of action on the part of the Council — Employee working successively in the operating units of the same employer in several Member States (otherwise than in the context of postings) and subject on each occasion to the locally applicable supplementary pension scheme

Operative part of the judgment

| 1. | Article 48 TFEU does not have any direct effect capable of being relied on by an individual against his private-sector employer in a dispute before national courts. |
| -- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |

| 2. | Article 45 TFEU must be interpreted as precluding, in the context of the mandatory application of a collective labour agreement:
—
for the determination of the period for the acquisition of definitive entitlements to supplementary pension benefits in a Member State, the non-inclusion of the years of service completed by a worker for the same employer in establishments of that employer situated in different Member States and pursuant to the same coordinating contract of employment; —
a worker who has been transferred from an establishment of his employer in one Member State to an establishment of the same employer in another Member State from being regarded as having left the employer of his own free will. | — | for the determination of the period for the acquisition of definitive entitlements to supplementary pension benefits in a Member State, the non-inclusion of the years of service completed by a worker for the same employer in establishments of that employer situated in different Member States and pursuant to the same coordinating contract of employment; | — | a worker who has been transferred from an establishment of his employer in one Member State to an establishment of the same employer in another Member State from being regarded as having left the employer of his own free will. |
| -- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | - | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| — | for the determination of the period for the acquisition of definitive entitlements to supplementary pension benefits in a Member State, the non-inclusion of the years of service completed by a worker for the same employer in establishments of that employer situated in different Member States and pursuant to the same coordinating contract of employment; | | | | |
| — | a worker who has been transferred from an establishment of his employer in one Member State to an establishment of the same employer in another Member State from being regarded as having left the employer of his own free will. | | | | |

---

( 1 )  OJ C 312, 19.12.2009.

---