Case C-356/24, Kärntner Landesregierung (Promotion of the civil servant): Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 27 November 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landesverwaltungsgericht Kärnten – Austria) – A.B. v Kärntner Landesregierung (Reference for a preliminary ruling – Freedom of movement for workers – Article 45 TFEU – Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 – Article 7(1) – Social policy – Equal treatment in employment and occupation – Directive 2000/78/EC – Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of age – Civil servants’ salary scale – National legislation excluding the consideration of previous periods of equivalent service completed in another Member State – Exclusion following a decision, falling within the discretionary power of the administration, to grant a promotion to the civil servant – Promotion subject to completion of a certain number of years of service – National legislation excluding the consideration of previous periods of equivalent service completed in the Member State concerned)
Date: 2025-11-27
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: equal treatment, free movement of workers, pay scale, private sector, promotion, seniority








C_202600426EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2026/426


2.2.2026






Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 27 November 2025 (request for a preliminary ruling from the Landesverwaltungsgericht Kärnten – Austria) – A.B. v Kärntner Landesregierung


(Case C-356/24,
                (1)
Kärntner Landesregierung (Promotion of the civil servant))

(Reference for a preliminary ruling - Freedom of movement for workers - Article 45 TFEU - Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 - Article 7(1) - Social policy - Equal treatment in employment and occupation - Directive 2000/78/EC - Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of age - Civil servants’ salary scale - National legislation excluding the consideration of previous periods of equivalent service completed in another Member State - Exclusion following a decision, falling within the discretionary power of the administration, to grant a promotion to the civil servant - Promotion subject to completion of a certain number of years of service - National legislation excluding the consideration of previous periods of equivalent service completed in the Member State concerned)
(C/2026/426)
Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landesverwaltungsgericht Kärnten

Parties to the main proceedings


Applicant: A.B.

Defendant: Kärntner Landesregierung

Operative part of the judgment







1.


Article 45(2) TFEU and Article 7(1) of Regulation (EU) No 492/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 April 2011 on freedom of movement for workers within the Union
must be interpreted as not precluding the legislation of a Member State under which periods of equivalent service completed by a person in another State of the European Economic Area before that person entered into service as a civil servant in the first Member State and which were not previously taken into account for the purposes of his or her salary classification, are taken into account retroactively when the situation of that civil servant with regard to the salary scale results from advancement based on seniority and not from promotion granted by virtue of a decision falling within the discretionary power of the administration, while such consideration is not provided for for previous periods of equivalent service completed in the private sector and on the national territory.










2.


Article 45(1) TFEU must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State under which periods of equivalent service completed by a person in another State of the European Economic Area before that person entered into service as a civil servant in the first Member State and which have not previously been taken into account for the purposes of his or her salary classification must be taken into account retroactively where the situation of that civil servant with regard to the salary scale results from advancement based on seniority and not from promotion granted by virtue of a decision falling within the discretionary power of the administration.










3.


Articles 1, 2 and 6 of Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, read in conjunction with Article 21 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
must be interpreted as not precluding the legislation of a Member State under which, first, periods of equivalent service completed by a person in another Member State before that person entered into service as a civil servant in that first Member State cannot be taken into account for the purposes of promotion where that civil servant has been promoted by virtue of a decision falling within the discretionary power of the administration and, secondly, such promotion can, in principle, take place only after several years of service, calculated from the reference date for advancement, provided that, first, the number of years of service to be completed before being eligible for promotion is not such that only older civil servants would be concerned and, secondly, the award of a promotion also depends on other criteria, unrelated to any consideration of age.







(1)  OJ C, C/2024/5075.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2026/426/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)