62018CO0439_INF
Order of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 15 October 2019 AEAT (Calculation of the length of service of vertical part-time workers)
(Joined Cases C‑439/18 and C‑472/18) (
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(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Social policy — Directive 97/81/EC — Framework Agreement on part-time work — Clause 4 — Male and female workers — Principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation — Directive 2006/54/EC — Article 14(1) — Vertical part-time worker — Recognition of length of service — Method of calculation of three-yearly length-of-service increments — Exclusion of periods not worked)
1.
Union law — Principles — Fundamental rights –Employment rights — Conditions of employment — Prohibition on discrimination against part-time workers — Scope
(Council Directive 97/81, Annex, Clause 4)
(see para. 30)
2.
Social policy — Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC — Directive 97/81 — Conditions of employment — Concept — Length-of-service bonus — Included
(Council Directive 97/81, Annex, Clause 4)
(see para. 31)
3.
Social policy — Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC — Directive 97/81 — Objective reasons justifying different treatment — Concept — Criteria to be taken into consideration
(Council Directive 97/81, Annex, Clause 4.1)
(see points 46, 47)
4.
Social policy — Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC — Directive 97/81 — Prohibition on discrimination against part-time workers — Male and female workers — Access to employment and working conditions — Equal treatment — Directive 2006/54 — National rule excluding vertical part-time workers from including periods not worked in the calculation of their length of service in order to benefit from salary increments earned for every three years of service — Unlawful
(European Parliament and Council Directive 2006/54, Art. 14(1); Council Directive 97/81, Annex, Clauses 4.1 and 4.2)
(see paras 38, 42, 43, 48-51, 58, 59, 61-63, operative part)
Operative part
Clause 4.1 and 4.2 of the Framework Agreement on part-time work concluded on 6 June 1997, 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, and Article 14(1) of Directive 2006/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 July 2006 on the implementation of the principle of equal opportunities and equal treatment of men and women in matters of employment and occupation must be interpreted as precluding a national rule and a national business practice, such as those at issue in the main proceedings, in so far as, as regards vertical part-time workers, they take into account only periods actually worked and thus exclude periods not worked from the calculation of the period of service required in order to receive three-yearly length-of-service increments as additional remuneration, while full-time workers are not subject to such a rule or practice.
(
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)	OJ C 373, 15.10.2018.