EN Official Journal of the European Union C 225/23

Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 20 June 2013 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Augstākās tiesas Senāts — Latvia) — Nadežda Riežniece v Latvijas Republikas Zemkopības ministrija, Lauku atbalsta dienests

(Case C-7/12) (1)

(Social policy - Directive 76/207/EEC - Equal treatment for male and female workers - Directive 96/34/EC - Framework Agreement on Parental Leave - Abolishment of officials’ posts due to national economic difficulties - Assessment of a female worker who took parental leave as compared to workers who remained in active service - Dismissal at the end of parental leave - Indirect discrimination)

2013/C 225/38

Language of the case: Latvian

Referring court

Augstākās tiesas Senāts

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Nadežda Riežniece

Defendant: Latvijas Republikas Zemkopības ministrija, Lauku atbalsta dienests

Re:

Request for a preliminary ruling — Augstākās tiesas Senāts — Interpretation 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) and of Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC (OJ 1996 L 145, p. 4) — Dismissal of a female employee on parental leave on her return to her previous post — Measures taken with a view to optimising the number of civil servants due to national economic difficulties — Assessment of the merits of a female employee on parental leave, which takes into account her latest annual performance appraisal before that leave, compared to the assessment of other civil servants who have continued in active employment

Operative part of the judgment

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, where a much higher number of women than men take parental leave, which it is for the national court to verify, and the Framework Agreement on Parental Leave, concluded on 14 December 1995, contained in the Annex to Council Directive 96/34/EC of 3 June 1996 on the framework agreement on parental leave concluded by UNICE, CEEP and the ETUC, as amended by Council Directive 97/75/EC of 15 December 1997, must be interpreted as precluding:

— a situation where, as part of an assessment of workers in the context of abolishment of officials’ posts due to national economic difficulties, a worker who has taken parental leave is assessed in his or her absence on the basis of assessment principles and criteria which place him or her in a less favourable position as compared to workers who did not take parental leave; in order to ascertain whether or not that is the case, the national court must inter alia ensure that the assessment encompasses all workers liable to be concerned by the abolishment of the post, that it is based on criteria which are absolutely identical to those applying to workers in active service and that the implementation of those criteria does not involve the physical presence of workers on parental leave; and

— a situation where a female worker who has been transferred to another post at the end of her parental leave following that assessment is dismissed due to the abolishment of that new post, where it was not impossible for the employer to allow her to return to her former post or where the work assigned to her was not equivalent or similar and consistent with her employment contract or employment relationship, inter alia because, at the time of the transfer, the employer was informed that the new post was due to be abolished, which it is for the national court to verify.

(1) OJ C 65, 3.3.2012.