Case C-435/23, Glavna direktsia Granichna politsia: Request for a preliminary ruling from the Okrazhen sad — Smolyan (Bulgaria) lodged on 13 July 2023 — Glavna direktsia ‘Granichna politsia’ kam Ministerstvo na vatreshnite raboti v BO
Date: 2023-07-13
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: equal treatment, labour law, night work, private sector, public order, public sector, public service employee, regulations for civil servants, staff








C_202300121EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2023/121


16.10.2023





Request for a preliminary ruling from the Okrazhen sad — Smolyan (Bulgaria) lodged on 13 July 2023 — Glavna direktsia ‘Granichna politsia’ kam Ministerstvo na vatreshnite raboti v BO
(Case C-435/23, Glavna direktsia Granichna politsia)
(C/2023/121)
Language of the case: Bulgarian

Referring court

Okrazhen sad — Smolyan

Parties to the main proceedings


Appellant and defendant: Glavna direktsia ‘Granichna politsia’ kam Ministerstvo na vatreshnite raboti

Respondent and applicant: BO

Questions referred







1.


Are Article 12(a) and recital 8 of Directive 2003/88/EC (1) and Articles 20 and 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as precluding national legislation (in this case, Article 187 of the Zakon za Ministerstvoto na vatreshnite raboti (Law on the Ministry of the Interior)) which, in not allowing the shorter length of night work as compared to that of day work in accordance with the general provisions governing private-sector workers to apply also to public-sector workers, such as police officers and firefighters performing shift and night work (civil servants within the meaning of Article 142(1)(1) of that Law), leads to a difference in treatment, indicated as follows, without that difference in treatment relating to a legally permitted aim, that is to say:
A group of public-sector workers entrusted with particularly important tasks to do with maintaining public order and protecting the population (in the present case, police officers and firefighters, pursuant to Article 142(1)(1) of the Law on the Ministry of the Interior, who perform shift and night work) is disadvantaged






(a)


by comparison with another group of workers in the same public sector who are entrusted with the same tasks to do with maintaining public order and protecting the population but who do not perform any night shift work (in the present case, other civil servants for the purposes of Article 142(1)(1) of the Law on the Ministry of the Interior) and yet receive the same benefits (for example, additional remuneration for seniority, longer paid leave, earlier retirement, higher severance pay etc.) as the police officers and firefighters who perform night shift work;










(b)


and by comparison with private-sector workers who perform shift and night work without receiving the same benefits, that being the case because they are not entrusted with the same particularly important tasks to do with maintaining public order and protecting the population, for which those benefits are granted to a whole group of public-sector workers (all civil servants within the meaning of Article 142(1)(1) of the Law on the Ministry of the Interior)?














2.


Are Article 12(a) and recital 8 of Directive 2003/88/EC and Articles 20 and 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union to be interpreted as precluding the application of binding national case-law (such as, in the present case, interpretative judgment No 1 of the General Assembly of the Civil Chamber of the Varhoven kasatsionen sad na Republika Bulgaria (Supreme Court of Cassation of the Republic of Bulgaria) of 15 March 2023 in Interpretative Case No 1/2020), if the application thereof would lead to a result incompatible with EU law, that is to say, to the difference in treatment described in the first question, which is not based on an objective and reasonable criterion, that is to say, it does not relate to a legally permitted aim and is not proportionate to that aim?






(1)  Directive 2003/88/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 November 2003 concerning certain aspects of the organisation of working time (OJ 2003 L 299, p. 9)


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2023/121/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)