Keywords

Summary



Keywords

++++

1. Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Article 119 of the Treaty and Directive 75/117 ° Scope ° Piece-work pay schemes

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

2. Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Piece-work pay schemes ° Difference between the average pay of two groups of workers, one consisting predominantly of women and the other of men, carrying out work of equal value ° Finding insufficient to establish discrimination ° Lack of clarity in the definition of the variable elements of the pay ° Burden of proof that there is no discrimination

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117, Art. 1)

3. Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Piece-work pay schemes ° Establishing whether there is discrimination ° Procedure for comparing the average pay of two groups of workers

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

4. Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Piece-work pay schemes ° Establishing whether there is discrimination ° Circumstances to be taken into account in order for different work to be considered to be of equal value ° Factors such as to justify any pay differentials

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

5. Social policy ° Male and female workers ° Equal pay ° Applicable where the pay is determined by collective bargaining ° Taking account of collective bargaining when establishing whether there is discrimination

(EEC Treaty, Art. 119; Council Directive 75/117)

Summary

1. Article 119 of the Treaty and Directive 75/117 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women apply to piece-work pay schemes in which pay depends entirely or in large measure on the individual output of each worker.

2. The principle of equal pay for men and women set out in Article 119 of the Treaty and Article 1 of Directive 75/117 means that the mere finding that in a piece-work pay scheme the average pay of a group of workers consisting predominantly of women carrying out one type of work is appreciably lower than the average pay of a group of workers consisting predominantly of men carrying out another type of work to which equal value is attributed does not suffice to establish that there is discrimination with regard to pay. However, where in a piece-work pay scheme in which individual pay consists of a variable element depending on each worker' s output and a fixed element differing according to the group of workers concerned it is not possible to identify the factors which determined the rates or units of measurement used to calculate the variable element in the pay, the employer may have to bear the burden of proving that the differences found are not due to sex discrimination.

3. For the purposes of the comparison to be made, with regard to the principle of equal pay for men and women, between the average pay of two groups of workers paid by the piece, the national court must satisfy itself that the two groups each encompass all the workers who, taking account of a set of factors such as the nature of the work, the training requirements and the working conditions, can be considered to be in a comparable situation and that they cover a relatively large number of workers ensuring that the differences are not due to purely fortuitous or short-term factors or to differences in the individual output of the workers concerned.

4. When ascertaining whether the principle of equal pay for men and women has been observed, it is for the national court to decide whether, in the light of circumstances such as, first, the fact that the work done by one of the groups of workers in question involves machinery and requires in particular muscular strength whereas that done by the other group is manual work requiring in particular dexterity and, secondly, the fact that there are differences between the work of the two groups with regard to paid breaks, freedom to organize one' s own work and work-related inconveniences, the two types of work are of equal value or whether those circumstances may be considered to be objective factors unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex which are such as to justify any pay differentials.

5. The principle of equal pay for men and women also applies where the elements of the pay are determined by collective bargaining or by negotiation at local level. However, the national court may take that fact into account in its assessment of whether differences between the average pay of two groups of workers are due to objective factors unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex.