CELEX: C2005/045/02
Language: en
Date: 2005-02-19 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 9 December 2004 in Case C-19/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof): Viktor Hlozek v Roche Austria Gesellschaft mbH ((Social policy — Male and female workers — Equal pay — Pay — Concept — Bridging allowance (‘Überbrückungsgeld’) provided for by a works agreement — Social plan drawn up as part of an operation to restructure an undertaking — Benefit granted to workers having reached a certain age at the time of their dismissal — Benefit granted from a different age according to the sex of the dismissed workers — Account taken of national statutory retirement age, different according to sex))

19.2.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 45/1
            
         
      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
   
   (First Chamber)
   of 9 December 2004
   in Case C-19/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Oberster Gerichtshof): 
         Viktor Hlozek
       v 
         Roche Austria Gesellschaft mbH
      
       (1)
   
   ((Social policy - Male and female workers - Equal pay - Pay - Concept - Bridging allowance (‘Überbrückungsgeld’) provided for by a works agreement - Social plan drawn up as part of an operation to restructure an undertaking - Benefit granted to workers having reached a certain age at the time of their dismissal - Benefit granted from a different age according to the sex of the dismissed workers - Account taken of national statutory retirement age, different according to sex))
   (2005/C 45/02)
   Language of the case: German
   In Case C-19/02: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Oberster Gerichtshof (Austria), made by decision of 20 December 2001, received at the Court on 29 January 2002, in the proceedings between Viktor Hlozek and Roche Austria Gesellschaft mbH Ä the Court (First Chamber), composed of P. Jann, President of the Chamber, A. Rosas (Rapporteur), R. Silva de Lapuerta, K. Lenaerts and S. von Bahr, Judges; J. Kokott, Advocate General; M.-F. Contet, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 9 December 2004, in which it has ruled:
   A bridging allowance such as that at issue in the main proceedings falls under the concept of ‘pay’ within the meaning of Article 141 EC and Article 1 of Council Directive 75/117/EEC of 10 February 1975 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women. In circumstances such as those of the main proceedings, those provisions do not preclude the application of a social plan providing for a difference in the treatment of male and female workers in terms of the age at which they are entitled to a bridging allowance, since, under the national statutory scheme governing early retirement pensions, they are in different situations with regard to the factors relevant to the grant of that allowance.
   
      (1)  OJ C 109 of 04.05.2002.