17

In those circumstances, the Oberlandesgericht Innsbruck decided to stay the proceedings and to refer the following questions to the Court for a preliminary ruling: ‘(1) Does European Union law as it stands at present, in particular 1. the general principle in European Union law of equal treatment, 2. the general principle of the prohibition of discrimination on grounds of age within the meaning of Article 6(3) TEU and Article 21 of the [Charter], 3. the prohibition of discrimination in connection with freedom of movement for workers in Article 45 TFEU, 4. Directive [2000/78], preclude national rules – partly legislative, partly in collective agreements – which by agreement are incorporated into an individual contract of employment, and under which previous periods of service of employees in the rail transport sector are not taken into account at all if they were acquired before reaching the age of 18, and if they were acquired after reaching the age of 18, where they were not completed with a “quasi-public” undertaking in national territory or with the defendant national employer itself, are taken into account only to the extent of one half, regardless of the skills and knowledge acquired by the employee in the particular case? (2) If the answer to Question 1 is in the affirmative, is it relevant in calculating the pay outstanding, taking account of previously disregarded previous periods of service (in full up to reaching the age of 18 and as regards the second half from reaching the age of 18 to the claimant’s entry into the service of the defendant) in conformity with European Union law, that the previous periods of service in the calculation were acquired in the period from 1 December 1965 to 24 November 1974, in other words long before the Republic of Austria’s accession to the European Union and before the first judgment on the principle of equal treatment in European Union law? (3) If the answer to Question 1 is in the affirmative, does European Union law as it stands at present, in particular the principle of effectiveness, preclude national limitation provisions under which the claim of an employee, subsequently a pensioner, against his employer for payment of additional pay, and subsequently payment of additional pension sums, deriving from the taking into account, in conformity with European Union law within the meaning of Question 1, of previous periods of service abroad and of those acquired before reaching the age of 18 – a claim which he did not have under national law and objectively could not bring until delivery of the judgments in Case C-195/98 Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund [2000] ECR I-10497 on 30 November 2000 and Case C-88/08 Hütter [2009] ECR I-5325 on 18 June 2009 – would be time-barred in its entirety? (4) If the answer to Question 1 is in the affirmative, is an employer in the rail transport sector with approximately 40000 employees and a multi-level hierarchically articulated and territorially comprehensive organisation, under European Union law as it stands at present, in particular the horizontal effect of the general European Union law principle of equal treatment and/or the prohibition of discrimination in connection with freedom of movement for workers, under a duty of care to inform his employees and employees’ representatives of judgments of the Court of Justice, also published in the daily press, which make it appear that a system of accrediting previous periods of service hitherto practised by the employer is contrary to European Union law, a duty which may lead, inter alia, to payment of additional pay?’