Keywords

Summary



Keywords

1. Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Article 141(1) EC — Scope — Workers of different sexes undertaking the same work or work of equal value — Differences identified in conditions of remuneration not attributable to a single source — Excluded — (Art. 141(1) EC)

2. Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Article 141(1) EC — Scope — Workers of different sexes undertaking the same work or work of equal value — Differences identified in conditions of remuneration not attributable to a single source — Remuneration including the right to become a member of an occupational pension scheme — Excluded — (Art. 141(1) EC)

3. Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Article 141(1) EC — State legislation making membership of a pension scheme subject to the existence of a contract of employment — Occupational pension scheme with a much lower percentage of female than male members — Meaning of worker — Not permissible in the absence of objective justification — (Art. 141(1) EC)

4. Social policy — Men and women — Equal pay — Article 141(1) EC — Scope — Unacceptability of State legislation — Enforceability against employers — (Art. 141(1) EC)

Summary

1. Article 141 EC must be interpreted as meaning that a woman whose contract of employment with an undertaking has not been renewed and who is immediately made available to her previous employer through another undertaking to provide the same services is not entitled to rely, vis-à-vis the intermediary undertaking, on the principle of equal pay, using as a basis for comparison the remuneration received for equal work or work of the same value by a man employed by the woman ' s previous employer. The fact that the level of pay received by that woman is influenced by the amount which her previous employer pays to the intermediary undertaking is not a sufficient basis for concluding that those two undertakings constitute a single source to which can be attributed the differences identified in the conditions of pay.

see paras 48, 50, operative part 1

2. Article 141(1) EC must be interpreted as meaning that a woman is not entitled to rely on the principle of equal pay in order to secure entitlement to membership of an occupational pension scheme for teachers set up by State legislation of which only teachers with a contract of employment may become members, using as a basis for comparison the remuneration, including such a right of membership, received for equal work or work of the same value by a man employed by the woman ' s previous employer.

see para. 57, operative part 2

3. In the absence of any objective justification, the requirement, imposed by State legislation, of being employed under a contract of employment as a precondition for membership of a pension scheme for teachers is not applicable where it is shown that, among the teachers who are workers within the meaning of Article 141(1) EC and fulfil all the other conditions for membership, a much lower percentage of women than of men is able to fulfil that condition. The formal classification of a self-employed person under national law does not change the fact that a person must be classified as a worker within the meaning of that article if his independence is merely notional.

see para. 79, operative part 3

4. Article 141(1) EC must be interpreted as meaning that where State legislation is at issue, the applicability of that provision vis-à-vis an undertaking is not subject to the condition that the worker concerned can be compared with a worker of the other sex who is or has been employed by the same employer and who has received higher pay for the same work or work of equal value.

see para. 84, operative part 4