CELEX: C2005/006/15
Language: en
Date: 2005-01-08 00:00:00
Title: Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 11 November 2004 in Case C-425/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour administrative): Johanna Maria Boor, née Delahaye v Ministre de la Fonction publique et de la Réforme administrative (Safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of a transfer of an undertaking to the State — Possibility for the State to impose rules of public law — Reduction of the amount of remuneration)

8.1.2005   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 6/9
            
         
      JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
   
   (Second Chamber)
   of 11 November 2004
   in Case C-425/02 (reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour administrative): Johanna Maria Boor, née Delahaye v Ministre de la Fonction publique et de la Réforme administrative (1)
   
   (Safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of a transfer of an undertaking to the State - Possibility for the State to impose rules of public law - Reduction of the amount of remuneration)
   (2005/C 6/15)
   Language of the case: French
   In Case C-425/02: reference for a preliminary ruling under Article 234 EC from the Cour administrative (Luxembourg), made by decision of 21 November 2002, received at the Court on 25 November 2002, in the proceedings between Johanna Maria Boor, née Delahaye and Ministre de la Fonction publique et de la Réforme administrative — the Court (Second Chamber), composed of: C.W.A. Timmermans, President of the Chamber, C. Gulmann and N. Colneric (Rapporteur), Judges; P. Léger, Advocate General; M. Múgica Arzamendi, Principal Administrator, for the Registrar, has given a judgment on 11 November 2004, in which it has ruled:
   Council Directive 77/187/EEC of 14 February 1977 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to the safeguarding of employees' rights in the event of transfers of undertakings, businesses or parts of businesses must be interpreted as not precluding in principle, in the event of a transfer of an undertaking from a legal person governed by private law to the State, the latter, as new employer, from reducing the amount of the remuneration of the employees concerned for the purpose of complying with the national rules in force for public employees. However, the competent authorities responsible for applying and interpreting those rules are obliged to do so as far as possible in the light of the purpose of that directive, taking into account in particular the employee's length of service, in so far as the national rules governing the position of State employees take a State employee's length of service into consideration for calculating his remuneration. If such a calculation leads to a substantial reduction in the employee's remuneration, such a reduction constitutes a substantial change in working conditions to the detriment of the employees concerned by the transfer, so that the termination of their contracts of employment for that reason must be regarded as resulting from the action of the employer, in accordance with Article 4(2) of Directive 77/187.
   
      (1)  OJ C 19 of 25.1.2003.