Case C-173/13: Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 17 July 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour administrative d’appel de Lyon — France) — Maurice Leone, Blandine Leone v Garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice, Caisse nationale de retraite des agents des collectivités locales (Social policy — Article 141 EC — Equality of pay for female and male workers — Early retirement with immediate payment of pension — Service credit for the purposes of calculating the pension — Advantages benefiting mainly female civil servants — Indirect discrimination — Objective justification — Genuine concern about attaining the stated objective — Consistency in implementation — Article 141(4) EC — Measures aimed at compensating for career-related disadvantages for female workers — Not applicable)
Date: 2014-07-17
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: civil servant, early retirement, gender equality, pension scheme, remuneration of work, sexual discrimination, social policy








C_2014315EN.01001201.xml










15.9.2014   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 315/12





Judgment of the Court (Fourth Chamber) of 17 July 2014 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Cour administrative d’appel de Lyon — France) — Maurice Leone, Blandine Leone v Garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice, Caisse nationale de retraite des agents des collectivités locales
(Case C-173/13) (1)

((Social policy - Article 141 EC - Equality of pay for female and male workers - Early retirement with immediate payment of pension - Service credit for the purposes of calculating the pension - Advantages benefiting mainly female civil servants - Indirect discrimination - Objective justification - Genuine concern about attaining the stated objective - Consistency in implementation - Article 141(4) EC - Measures aimed at compensating for career-related disadvantages for female workers - Not applicable))
2014/C 315/17
Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour administrative d’appel de Lyon

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicants: Maurice Leone, Blandine Leone

Defendants: Garde des Sceaux, ministre de la Justice, Caisse nationale de retraite des agents des collectivités locales

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 141 EC must be interpreted as meaning that a scheme for early retirement with immediate payment of pension such as that at issue in the main proceedings gives rise to indirect discrimination in terms of pay as between female workers and male workers, contrary to that article, unless it can be justified by objective factors unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex, such as a legitimate social policy aim, and is appropriate to achieve that aim and necessary in order to do so, which requires that it genuinely reflect a concern to attain that aim and be pursued in a consistent and systematic manner.










2.


Article 141 EC must be interpreted as meaning that a service credit scheme for pension purposes, such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, gives rise to indirect discrimination in terms of pay as between female workers and male workers, contrary to that article, unless it can be justified by objective factors unrelated to any discrimination on grounds of sex, such as a legitimate social policy aim, and is appropriate to achieve that aim and necessary in order to do so, which requires that it genuinely reflect a concern to attain that aim and be pursued in a consistent and systematic manner.










3.


Article 141(4) EC must be interpreted as meaning that the measures referred to in that provision do not cover national measures such as those at issue in the main proceedings which merely allow the workers concerned to take early retirement with immediate payment of pension and to grant them a service credit upon their retirement, without providing a remedy for the problems which they may encounter in the course of their professional career.






(1)  OJ C 171, 15.6.2013.