Case C-5/24, Pauni: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 11 September 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale ordinario di Ravenna – Italy) – P.M. v S. Snc (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Directive 2000/78/EC – Equal treatment in employment and occupation – Article 2 – Discrimination based on disability – Dismissal of a worker on sick leave – National legislation laying down the same limit of number of days of sick leave per calendar year for all workers in the same sector of activity – Article 5 – Reasonable accommodation)
Date: 2025-09-11
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: discrimination based on disability, dismissal, equal treatment, incapacity for work, sick leave, unpaid leave, worker with disabilities








C_202505800EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2025/5800


10.11.2025






Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 11 September 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunale ordinario di Ravenna – Italy) – P.M. v S. Snc


(Case C-5/24,
                (1)
Pauni
                (2)
)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Directive 2000/78/EC - Equal treatment in employment and occupation - Article 2 - Discrimination based on disability - Dismissal of a worker on sick leave - National legislation laying down the same limit of number of days of sick leave per calendar year for all workers in the same sector of activity - Article 5 - Reasonable accommodation)
(C/2025/5800)
Language of the case: Italian

Referring court

Tribunale ordinario di Ravenna

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: P.M.

Defendant: S. Snc

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 2(2) and Article 5 of Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation must be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which confers on a worker on sick leave a right to retain his or her post for a paid and renewable period of 180 days per calendar year, in addition to, in certain cases and at the request of that worker, an unpaid and non-renewable period of 120 days, without providing for specific rules for workers with disabilities, provided that:






—


that national legislation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve the social policy aim of ensuring the ability and availability of the worker to carry out his or her professional activity, and that










—


that national legislation does not prevent full compliance with the requirements laid down in that Article 5.














2.


Article 5 of Directive 2000/78 must be interpreted as meaning that a national provision providing, for the benefit of a worker on sick leave but without regard to his or her possible disability, for an unpaid post retention period of 120 days, in addition to a paid post retention period of 180 days, does not constitute ‘reasonable accommodation’ within the meaning of that article.






(1)  OJ C, C/2024/2014.

(2)  The name of the present case is a fictitious name. It does not correspond to the real name of any party to the proceedings.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2025/5800/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)